Best PlacesWayne County, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wayne County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wayne County ranks 2,657th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wayne County
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.
Wayne County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wayne County ranks high
- QuietBetter than 95% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of counties
- Cheap childcare$564 a month, better than 80% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 79% of counties
Where Wayne County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 7% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wayne County
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wayne County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,039, 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 Wayne County's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wayne County
Wayne County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wayne County.
Who works in Wayne County, and how
Work in Wayne County centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Wayne County
Wayne County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Wayne County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wayne County growing, and who is moving in?
Wayne County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Huntsville, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wayne County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wayne County, month by month
Wayne County sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Wayne County
The nearest airport, Northwest Alabama Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wayne County
Schools across Wayne County average a D+, better than 14% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Collinwood ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Waynesboro ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waynesboro Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Collinwood Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Collinwood High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Wayne County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wayne County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wayne County 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 Wayne County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Wayne County
Is Wayne County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wayne County ranks 2,657th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, state finances, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wayne County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $131,112. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $56,039 median income, cost of living beats 24% of counties.
Is Wayne County safe?
Wayne County is safer than 29% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $540 per resident a year.
Compare Wayne County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wayne County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wayne County 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.
Wayne County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wayne County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wayne County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wayne County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wayne County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wayne County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.