According to Saturday Night Science, the two poorest places in Tennessee for 2024 are Smithville and La Follette.
Just like any other state, Tennessee also has some places that are experiencing difficult times. These places in Tennessee have a higher percentage of people who are living in poverty, unemployed, or not earning as much as they should.
While the economy is getting better, it’s important to examine the areas in each state that are having difficulty meeting their financial needs. So we decided to focus on finding the poorest areas in Tennessee.
We analyzed the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 101 cities in Tennessee with more than 5,000 people using Saturday Night Science.
Based on the information, Smithville is considered the least wealthy location in Tennessee for the year 2024. This statement is not meant to criticize the residents or the lively culture and traditions of these locations. Instead, we are simply examining the facts.
Poorest Cities In Tennessee For 2024
Smithville
Population: 5,059
Rank Last Year: –
Median Income: $30,526 (lowest)
Poverty Rate: 34.8% (highest)
People In Poverty: 1,760
La Follette
Population: 7,349
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 9)
Median Income: $35,705 (2nd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 31.4% (3rd highest)
People In Poverty: 2,305
Newport
Population: 6,850
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Median Income: $35,784 (3rd lowest)
Poverty Rate: 28.1% (6th highest)
People In Poverty: 1,928
Lawrenceburg
Population: 11,592
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 3)
Median Income: $37,644 (5th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 27.4% (8th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,179
Martin
Population: 10,823
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 2)
Median Income: $38,235 (6th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 28.5% (4th highest)
People In Poverty: 3,085
Brownsville
Population: 9,739
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 2)
Median Income: $38,662 (8th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 28.0% (7th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,730
Dunlap
Population: 5,443
Rank Last Year: 16 (Up 8)
Median Income: $42,188 (20th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 33.4% (2nd highest)
People In Poverty: 1,817
Paris
Population: 10,311
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 4)
Median Income: $39,378 (10th lowest)
Poverty Rate: 25.2% (12th highest)
People In Poverty: 2,602
Also Read: Here We Discovered the Poorest Cities In Texas For 2024
Method to Determine The Poorest Places In Tennessee
When people think about finding the poorest places, the first thing that usually comes to mind is looking at the poverty rate. This means the number of people who have an income below a specific level set by the government for a household of a particular size.
However, we believe that one statistic alone does not fully capture the meaning of being one of the “poorest places”. We used Saturday Night Science to examine a set of criteria from the recently published 2018-2022 American Community Survey.
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
Once we gathered data for all 101 locations in Tennessee with a population of over 5,000, we assigned a ranking from 1 to 101 for each place based on specific criteria. A ranking of 1 indicated the lowest performance.
We calculated the average rankings for each place to determine a “Poor Score”. The place with the lowest Poor Score, Smithville, was named the “Poorest Place In Tennessee For 2024”. This report has been updated for 2024. It is the tenth time we have ranked the poorest places in Tennessee.
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