County · Tennessee

Jackson County, Tennessee

Jackson County, Tennessee has a quality-of-life score of 6 out of 100 (very low), ranking #2,968 of 3,143 US counties. Within Tennessee it ranks #90 of 95 counties. It ranks best on job growth (high), effective property tax rate (low) and property crime rate (low). It ranks worst on access to exercise opportunities (low), depression (high) and frequent mental distress (high).

6Very low
Quality-of-life score
#2,968 of 3,143 counties
Tennessee
#90 of 95 in TN
Population
12,466 (2025)
Land area
309 mi²
Density
40.4 /mi²
FIPS code
47087

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the mapFederal contracts here
Location of Jackson County, Tennessee

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US counties.

  • Safety34#2,038/3,096
  • Economy21#2,496/3,143
  • Housing42#1,810/3,140
  • Health7#2,933/3,144
  • Healthcare10#2,828/3,143
  • Environment30#2,172/3,108
  • Education17#2,604/3,144
  • Infrastructure12#2,753/3,144
  • Community3#3,053/3,144
  • Leisure & amenities15#2,658/3,143

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Jackson County, Tennessee ranks highest and lowest among US counties (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Counties like Jackson County, Tennessee five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Jackson County, Tennessee in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Cookeville, TN

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Public money & outcomes

Federal money per resident by fiscal year next to how the place changed, and, when its money jumped, how it compares with similar counties. A comparison, not cause and effect.

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Metro area

The metro or micro area Jackson County belongs to. A county is in at most one.

Cities and towns in Jackson County

Places whose residents live mostly in Jackson County, largest first.

  1. Dodson Branch1,425
  2. Gainesboro1,064

Neighboring counties

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar counties

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

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