Asheville → Knoxville
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Asheville to Knoxville is strongly favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 96.5 to 92.6 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent falls by $96/mo.
- -$1,016
- BLS median salary lower in Knoxville
- 365 to 602
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 15.8:1 to 15.3:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $1,627
- DOL infant care lower / yr in Knoxville
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + 4% lower cost of living
- + $96/mo cheaper rent (2BR)
- + More affordable childcare
- + Fewer environmental violations
Cons of Moving
- - Higher violent crime rate
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 96.5 to 92.6 (ratio 0.96), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent drops $96/mo ($1,152/yr) from $1,567 in Asheville to $1,471 in Knoxville.
Knoxville leads on 5 of 7 federal dimensions, a destination-heavy ledger. Knoxville sits #341 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (bottom third of the corpus). Asheville is #262/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Strongly Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $1,016 lower ($64,349 → $63,333). Labor-market size: 172,630 tracked jobs at origin vs 415,720 at destination.
State retirement friendliness is near-even: North Carolina 68 (C, #13/51) vs Tennessee 66 (C, #17/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 68
- Property tax
- 66
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 30
- Income tax
- 100
- Property tax
- 80
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 36
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Asheville to see what you'd need to earn in Knoxville to maintain the same purchasing power.
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026