Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Health is its weak spot: on CDC estimates, its residents' health ranks in the bottom 2% nationally. Where it does best is cost of living: a typical home costs about $248K, 3.4 years of the Knoxville metro’s $72K median household income. Overall, that makes a C−, good for 103rd of 175 in Tennessee. That leaves it better than 23% of U.S. towns. It also trails on walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 85% of U.S. towns. Oliver Springs's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 97% of U.S. towns. This Tennessee town has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Colonial Hall and Oliver Springs Banking Company.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Oliver Springs beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Colonial Hall| Widest gap | Oliver Springs | TN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 14% | 8.6% |
Census counts: 643 in 1890, 3,297 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1799 and 6 maps from 1936 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Tennessee), ordered by how far Oliver Springs is from typical.
Its grades run from A for cost of living (better than 93% of comparable towns) to D− for health (better than 1%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Oliver Springs, 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 Oliver Springs.
Oliver Springs fares better on crime within Tennessee than nationally and has added a third more jobs in ten years, but it has little public open land.
In Oliver Springs, 31% of adults say their health is fair or poor, where Tennessee’s towns sit at 24% and U.S. towns at 19%. The share of adults in Oliver Springs who get no exercise outside work: 35%. Only 6 of the 176 Tennessee towns we compare have a higher share of adults who report frequent mental distress than Oliver Springs. Two figures for adults locally: 20% report frequent physical distress, 33% have been diagnosed with depression.
| Oliver Springs | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 19% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 16% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 29% | 23% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 12% |
| What stands out | Oliver Springs | TN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 14% | 8.6% |
| More smokers | 25.4% | 17.3% |
| More adults with heart disease | 10.2% | 7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Roane County school district runs its public schools. Two of its 4 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. The 4 public schools in Oliver Springs teach 826 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norwood ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 214 | C |
| Oliver Springs High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 278 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TN on state tests and graduation
Jobs based here grew from 562 in 2013 to 777.
Most working residents leave Oliver Springs for work: only 3% work in town. 17% of residents live below the poverty line here. In Oliver Springs, the median household income is $51,000, below both the Tennessee town median ($61,000) and the median of U.S. towns ($80,000). This Tennessee town had 777 jobs in 2023, up 215 from 2013.
| Oliver Springs | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.9% | 12% | 8% |
| Median household income | $51,000 | $61,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 3.1%. 69% of Oliver Springs households are owner-occupiers.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expect July afternoons of 88° and January nights of 29°, with about 4 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 21.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 59% of Tennessee’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 64 to 38 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent offense rate in Oliver Springs is 1.7 per 1,000 residents. The rate of thefts and burglaries here is 9.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Oliver Springs | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.2 per 1,000 residents | 11.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Of the losses FEMA expects in Oliver Springs, 50% come from inland flooding and 14% from tornadoes. Compared with 58% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is lower. The national flood insurance program has paid 6 claims here since 1998.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Just 18 of its 3,680 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Oliver Springs itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
There are 0.5 miles of trail across 1 park or preserve. Oliver Springs’ trail network density stands at 0.1 miles per square mile. Parks and preserves here: one, of 14 acres.
| Oliver Springs | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.5% | 1.8% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arrow Head Park | 0.1 mi | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Oliver Springs. Close and well known come first.
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaNeyland Stadium
Big draw35 mi National ParkGreat Smoky Mountains National Park11.5M visitors a year
23 mi LookoutSunsphere
11 mi State parkFrozen Head State Park
8 mi National Historical ParkManhattan Project National Historical Park56K visitors a year
35 mi CaveCraighead CavernsNeyland Stadium: Neomrbungle, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Scott Basford, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Sunsphere: Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Frozen Head State Park: Brian Stansberry (photographer), CC BY 3.0 · Manhattan Project National Historical Park: Unknown, Public domain · Craighead Caverns: Brenda, CC BY 2.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Oliver Springs
About 6 of every 100 Oliver Springs residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Tennessee.
Where Oliver Springs’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
4 places in Oliver Springs on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Oliver Springs.
Town in Tennessee, United States
Oliver Springs is a town in Anderson, Morgan, and Roane counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, Oliver Springs had a population of 3,297. It is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Roane County.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Oliver Springs.
| Town | TN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver Springs | #103 | C− | A | C+ | C+ | D− |
| Coalfield | #77 | C | A+ | — | C− | C− |
Coalfield reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Oliver Springs with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Oliver Springs grades C− overall, better than 23% of U.S. towns and #103 of 175 in Tennessee. It grades D− for health, C+ for safety and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
3 notable people were born here, including Levi Kreis and Janelle Arthur.
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