Cost of Living in Tennessee

Reading the Tennessee Cost of Living Picture

The Bureau of Economic Analysis places Tennessee's statewide Regional Price Parity at 91.9 for the 2024 data year, 8.1% less expensive the U.S. baseline of 100. Inside the headline figure, the state's categories sit near average, while services offer the biggest relief at 72.1. That internal spread — rather than the single state number — is what determines whether a household actually feels priced in or priced out.

Tennessee captures 10 metro areas in the BEA dataset, and the range across them is meaningful. Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN leads on cost at 96.3, while Jackson, TN sits at the opposite end at 85.5 — a gap of 10.8 index points inside a single state. For goods the state indexes at 96.2, for services 72.1, and for rents 79.1 — the rent figure tends to be the most volatile input and deserves its own line-item review before any relocation decision.

Over time, Tennessee's statewide index has held steady within 0.2 points, suggesting a stable competitive position against other states. Practically, this means a $100,000 national salary delivers the purchasing power of about $108,849 of national buying power when earned inside Tennessee, and a household relocating here would need roughly $91,870 to reproduce a $100K lifestyle. Pair these numbers with metro-specific wage data and rent tables before treating the statewide figure as your planning assumption.