Jackson → Knoxville
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Jackson to Knoxville is less favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 91.8 to 92.6 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent rises by $306/mo.
- -$332
- BLS median salary lower in Knoxville
- 431 to 602
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 17.5:1 to 15.3:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $416
- 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.
Pros of Moving
- + Better student-teacher ratios
Cons of Moving
- - $306/mo more expensive rent (2BR)
- - Higher violent crime rate
Purchasing power stays near-even: BEA RPP moves only from 91.8 to 92.6 (ratio 1.01), inside a ±5% band. HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent rises $306/mo ($3,672/yr) from $1,165 in Jackson to $1,471 in Knoxville.
Jackson 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). Jackson is #224/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Less Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $332 lower ($63,665 → $63,333). Labor-market size: 47,640 tracked jobs at origin vs 415,720 at destination.
State retirement friendliness favors the destination: Tennessee scores 66 (C, #17/51) vs Michigan at 49 (F, #42/51). 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
- 72
- Property tax
- 59
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 16
- 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 Jackson 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