Best PlacesSummer City, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Summer City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Summer City ranks 30,147th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Summer City
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.
Summer City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Summer City ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap childcare$564 a month, better than 84% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of towns
Where Summer City ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute35.6 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Summer City
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Summer City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,024, 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 Summer City's effective rate of 0.39%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Summer City
Summer City runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Summer City.
Who works in Summer City, and how
Work in Summer City centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Summer City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Summer City.
What the weather is like in Summer City, month by month
Summer City sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 36° | 29° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 66° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Summer City
The nearest airport, Lovell Field, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around Summer City
Schools across Summer City average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cecil B Rigsby ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Rhea Central ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Pikeville ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rhea Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Bledsoe County Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Rhea County High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Bledsoe County High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Summer City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Summer City 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 Summer City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Summer City
Is Summer City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Summer City ranks 30,147th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low property taxes, and low taxes, and lowest on health outcomes and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Summer City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $123,620. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,024 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Summer City safe?
Summer City is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $397 per resident a year.
Compare Summer City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Summer City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Summer City 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.
Summer City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Summer City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Summer City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Summer City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Summer City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Summer City 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.