Study Says Suburbs Are Sweet Spot For Tennessee Homeowners

NerdWallet’s top ten cities for homeownership are all located within 40 miles of a larger urban center. (Photo Credit/NerdWallet)

Whether you’re better off buying or renting a home in Tennessee may depend on where in the state you live. According to a study from the personal finance website Nerdwallet, it’s suburbs and small cities that give homeowners the most bang for their buck.

Nerdwallet rated 58 Tennessee communities with populations greater than 10,000. The scores were based on availability of housing, the affordability of the area as measured by both medium income and housing costs, and population growth between 2010 and 2012. The cities were then ranked, with a higher score representing a better location to own a home.

Major urban centers like Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga were conspicuously absent from the company’s rankings, but each community on the list is within 40 miles of one of the state’s largest cities. Arlington, a Memphis suburb, was number one.

Clarksville was the most populous city on the list and the only one with a population above 100,000. White House, Mount Juliet, La Vergne, and Spring Hill — all suburbs of Nashville — were ranked in the top ten.

Here’s a screenshot of the Nerdwallet rankings: