Columbia → Knoxville
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Columbia to Knoxville is unfavorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 93.7 to 92.6 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $195/mo.
- -$784
- BLS median salary lower in Knoxville
- 439 to 602
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 14.3:1 to 15.3:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $128
- DOL infant care higher / 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.
Cons of Moving
- - $195/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - Higher violent crime rate
- - More environmental violations
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 93.7 to 92.6 (ratio 0.99), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $195/mo ($2,340/yr) from $1,276 in Columbia to $1,471 in Knoxville.
Columbia still leads on 6 of 7 federal dimensions, the origin keeps the edge. Knoxville sits #341 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (bottom third of the corpus). Columbia is #29/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Unfavorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $784 lower ($64,117 → $63,333). Labor-market size: 383,170 tracked jobs at origin vs 415,720 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors staying put: South Carolina scores 80 (A, #3/51) vs Tennessee at 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
- 85
- Property tax
- 87
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 56
- 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 Columbia 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