This Unexpected Tennessee City Was Just Ranked the Best Place to Live in America
Sorry, Nashville. Apologies to Memphis. Regrets to Knoxville. Another superb Tennessee city is having a moment in the sun: Clarksville.
The modestly sized metropolis of about 160,000 has been ranked #1 on the annual Best Places to Live list from MONEY magazine, and we're not surprised the eclectic Nashville suburb earned this accolade. "Fifty miles northwest of the neon lights of Nashville, there’s a place where natural beauty coexists with a growing economy, unique small businesses are thriving, a cheap meal out rarely costs more than $12, and there’s always a trivia night, community event or concert on the calendar," reads MONEY's ode to Clarksville. And it gets better: As MONEY points out, the city is still affordable with the average Clarksville home selling for just under $156,000 in 2018, according to Attom Data. That puts Clarksville at nearly $100,000 below the U.S. median home price in the same year. This is the first time Clarksville has topped the list; in 2018, Frisco, Texas snagged the coveted position as number one.
To determine the Best Places to Live list, MONEY looks at places with populations of 50,000 or greater and considers 160,000+ different data points like cost of living, health and safety, and public education in partnership with research firm Witlytic. This year, several Southern locales rounded out the top ten list with Round Rock, Texas, securing the number two spot, Country Club Heights in Charlotte, North Carolina, in fifth place (for the first time this year, neighborhoods were included in the rankings as well as cities), Bentonville, Arkansas, in seventh, and Winter Garden, Florida in 10th. Read the full rankings for 2019 Best Places to Live here.
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