Best PlacesTaft, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Taft, 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.
Taft ranks 17,821st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Taft
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.
Taft's strengths and weaknesses
Where Taft ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
- QuietBetter than 87% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap childcare$564 a month, better than 84% of towns
Where Taft ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 26% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 32% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 33% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 36% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Taft
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Taft home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,691, 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 Taft's effective rate of 0.33%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Taft
Taft 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 Taft.
Who works in Taft, and how
Work in Taft centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Taft
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Taft.
What the weather is like in Taft, month by month
Taft sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Taft
The nearest airport, Huntsville International-Carl T Jones Field, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around Taft
Schools across Taft average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Highland Rim SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Lincoln County High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Taft school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Taft 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 Taft against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Taft
Is Taft a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Taft ranks 17,821st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, low property taxes, and quiet, and lowest on the weather and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Taft expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,865. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $71,691 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Taft safe?
Yes, Taft is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare Taft with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Taft. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Taft 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.
Taft detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Taft: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Taft: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Taft: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Taft: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Taft 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.