Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 16,141, settled in 1783. A regional job hub with 17,831 jobs.
Greeneville's standout: natural-hazard risk is low. Overall it grades C−, ranked 102nd of 175 in Tennessee. Its schools rank ahead of 80% of Tennessee towns. Its weakest subject is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 89% of the country. 44% of working residents work locally in Greeneville, where Tennessee’s towns sit at 12% and U.S. towns at 8%. Only 17 of Tennessee’s 232 towns score higher on civic life. Greeneville has 5 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Greeneville Historic District and New Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Where Greeneville beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| C Hal Henard Elementary | PK–5 | 453 |
| Tusculum View Elementary | PK–5 | 413 |
| Eastview Elementary | PK–5 | 392 |
Its founding year, 1783, comes before those of 98% of the Tennessee towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 660 in 1850, 15,479 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1857 and 3 maps from 1936 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Tennessee), ordered by how far Greeneville is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for health (better than 11%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Greeneville, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Greeneville.
Greeneville carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Tennessee (mostly inland flooding), draws workers from Johnson City and beyond and fares better on crime within Tennessee than nationally.
17,831 jobs are based in Greeneville, 3.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 18.6 minutes, against 25.7 across Tennessee.
Greeneville’s average trip to work is 19 minutes. The top destinations are Johnson City (8%), Kingsport (4%) and Morristown (4%). Greeneville’s median household income is $50,000.
| Greeneville | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 19% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $50,000 | $61,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Greeneville school district. Two of its 13 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Greeneville High School, with 871 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greeneville Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 603 | B− |
| Greeneville High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 871 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TN on state tests and graduation
Against the 5,757 U.S. towns with household incomes like Greeneville’s, it is less healthy than 73%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income. Within Tennessee it is less healthy than 64% of the 176 graded towns: much of Tennessee scores lower on these measures.
17% of Greeneville adults report frequent physical distress. Greeneville beats the Tennessee average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 13% of Greeneville adults binge drink.
| Greeneville | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 16% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 41% | 35% |
| What stands out | Greeneville | TN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 79.3% | 76.2% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.7% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of Tennessee towns, with expected losses of about $191 per resident a year; that rating is what its A+ for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Greeneville is 6 of 100. Since 1979, 8 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Greeneville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 33.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 63% of Tennessee’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 510 to 279 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The typical Greeneville home is worth about $245,000, up 1.5% in a year, 26% below the Tennessee typical home. Only 8 of the 174 Tennessee towns we compare have a lower median rent than Greeneville. 63% of households own their home in Greeneville.
| Greeneville | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $650 a month | $950 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 63% | 66% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Greeneville has mild winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 28° and about 8 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Tennessee average. Greeneville has grown 4.2% since 2020, to 16,141 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 27% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 31% across Tennessee.
| Greeneville | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 21% | 22% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| Median age | 42.2 years | 40 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 27% | 23% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3 points. Across Tennessee, 50.9% of residents are women.
| Greeneville | TN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.4% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.1% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.3% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.9% | 13.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.5% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.4% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.4% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.7% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.5% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10% | 10% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.2% | 31.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 20% | 19.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.1% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.7% | 19.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.2% | 11.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Just 65 of its 10,830 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Greeneville itself; its outdoors grade is D.
0.0 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Hardin's Park, at 49 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hardin's Park | — | 49 |
| 2. Andrew Johnson National Historic Site | — | 17 |
| 3. Forest Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Greeneville
About 2 of every 100 Greeneville residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Tennessee.
Where Greeneville’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Greeneville on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Tennessee, United States
Greeneville is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Greene County, Tennessee, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 15,479. The town was named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, and it is the second oldest town in Tennessee. It is the only town with this spelling in the United States, although there are numerous U.S. towns named Greenville. The town was the capital of the short-lived State of Franklin in the 18th-century history of East Tennessee. Greeneville is known as the town where United States President Andrew Johnson began his political career when elected to be an alderman and transitioned from his trade as a tailor. He and his family li…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Greeneville.
| Town | TN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greeneville | #102 | C− | B− | C− | A− | D |
| Tusculum | #7 | A− | B− | — | B | A− |
| Mosheim | #115 | C− | A− | C− | B | D− |
Tusculum reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Greeneville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Greeneville grades C− overall, better than 23% of U.S. towns and #102 of 175 in Tennessee. It grades D for health, C− for safety and A− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 4.4 years of the area's median household income ($56,194 across the Greeneville, TN area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
