Best PlacesSumac, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sumac, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sumac ranks 22,332nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sumac
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Sumac's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sumac ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Household income$102,768 median, better than 86% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
Where Sumac ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 21% of towns
- Short commute32.2 minutes each way, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sumac
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sumac home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,768, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Sumac's effective rate of 0.39%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sumac
Sumac runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sumac.
Who works in Sumac, and how
Work in Sumac centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Sumac
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sumac.
What the weather is like in Sumac, month by month
Sumac sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Sumac
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sumac
Schools across Sumac average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Richland ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bridgeforth Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Cornersville SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Giles Co High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sumac school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sumac measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Sumac against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sumac
Is Sumac a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sumac ranks 22,332nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, what local pay buys, and low property taxes, and lowest on biking and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sumac expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $316,970. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $102,768 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Sumac safe?
Sumac is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $691 per resident a year.
Compare Sumac with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sumac. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sumac represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Sumac detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sumac: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sumac: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sumac: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sumac: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sumac detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.