Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Tennessee (2026)

Tennessee's statewide median sold price is $370,000 across 44,686 closings in the past six months, but fifteen city markets in the state closed 100 or more homes at medians between $160,000 and $259,000. For an investor working with limited capital, those fifteen are where the entry math actually works.

One clarification before the ranking, because it determines how you should use this list.

What this ranking is based on

Every city below is ranked on two things we have real data for: median sold price over the past six months, and the number of closings in that window. Entry cost and liquidity.

We do not have rent data for these markets. That means no rent estimates, no rent-to-price ratios, no cap rates, and no cash-on-cash return figures appear anywhere in this article, because publishing them would mean making them up. Rent is intensely local, varying block to block and by property condition, and a fabricated rent assumption is how rental deals go wrong. You have to verify rent on the specific property. When you have a real number, run it through the rental property calculator and the deal analyzer to test whether the deal actually works.

What entry price and closing volume do tell you is how much capital a market ties up, roughly what tenant pool a price point implies, and how hard it will be to sell later. That is worth ranking honestly.

The ranking, cheapest entry price first

1. Memphis, $160,000 median, 2,463 closings

Memphis is the outlier of this entire list, and arguably of the state. It has the lowest median sold price of any major Tennessee market at $160,000, and it closed 2,463 homes in six months, the third-highest volume in the state behind only Nashville and Knoxville. Cheap entry almost always comes with thin liquidity. Memphis is the exception.

That volume has practical consequences. Comparable sales are abundant, so valuations rest on real evidence rather than three distant comps. Exit options are broad. And a large metro rental market means a deep and varied tenant pool. The counterweight is dispersion: a $160,000 median across a metro this size covers an enormous range of neighborhoods and conditions, and the median tells you very little about any individual street. Memphis rewards granular work and punishes buying off the citywide number.

2. Dyersburg, $168,018 median, 124 closings

West Tennessee, and the cheapest of the small markets. 124 closings over six months is a functioning local market with limited depth. The entry price is genuinely low, but expect a small comparable set and a limited buyer pool at resale.

3. Paris, $193,000 median, 126 closings

Similar profile to Dyersburg with a slightly higher entry point. 126 closings. A market where you should expect to hold rather than to trade.

4. Union City, $194,000 median, 100 closings

Exactly 100 closings, the minimum for inclusion here. Sub-$200,000 entry, and the thinnest volume on the list. That combination is workable for a long-horizon buy-and-hold but weak if you may need liquidity.

5. Jamestown, $200,000 median, 129 closings

On the Cumberland Plateau, $200,000 median, 129 closings. Small market, low entry cost, limited transaction depth.

6. Savannah, $220,000 median, 124 closings

Southern West Tennessee near the Tennessee River. 124 closings puts it in the same liquidity band as Dyersburg and Paris, at a higher entry price.

7. Lawrenceburg, $227,500 median, 159 closings

Southern Middle Tennessee. 159 closings is modestly better volume than the markets above it, which improves both the comparable-sales picture and the exit outlook.

8. Bristol, $239,900 median, 240 closings

One of the two strongest small markets here. 240 closings over six months is real liquidity for a city at this price point, and Bristol sits in the northeastern corner of the state on the Virginia line. Better comparable coverage, better exit, entry cost still well under the statewide $370,000 median.

9. Pulaski, $239,900 median, 128 closings

Same median as Bristol, roughly half the volume at 128 closings. A useful direct comparison: identical entry price, materially different liquidity. If those were your only two options, Bristol is the stronger structural position.

10. Fayetteville, $245,000 median, 164 closings

Southern Middle Tennessee near the Alabama line. 164 closings is decent volume for a market of this size.

11. Millington, $245,000 median, 145 closings

North of Memphis, which changes the analysis. Millington's tenant pool and buyer pool connect to the broader Memphis metro rather than to a standalone local economy, and Memphis closed 2,463 homes in the same period. Metro-adjacent markets at a $245,000 entry point behave differently from isolated small towns at the same price.

12. Athens, $247,500 median, 155 closings

East Tennessee, between Chattanooga and Knoxville. Two large markets nearby, 155 local closings, mid-$200,000s entry.

13. Greeneville, $254,900 median, 301 closings

The highest transaction volume of any small market on this list at 301 closings. That is more than double most of the cities above it, and it makes Greeneville the most liquid of the affordable non-metro options. For an investor who wants a sub-$260,000 entry price without accepting a thin market, this and Bristol are the two to examine first.

14. Elizabethton, $259,000 median, 180 closings

Northeast Tennessee near Bristol and Johnson City. 180 closings is solid for its size, and its proximity to the Bristol area means the wider region carries more combined activity than the city number alone suggests.

15. Sweetwater, $259,000 median, 115 closings

East Tennessee along the Knoxville to Chattanooga corridor. Same median as Elizabethton, lower volume at 115 closings.

Reading the list properly

The clearest split in this data is between liquidity tiers. Memphis at 2,463 closings is in a category by itself. Greeneville at 301, Bristol at 240, and Elizabethton at 180 form a second tier with genuine depth. Everything else sits between 100 and 165 closings, which means a functioning market but a small one, where a handful of transactions can move the median and where your exit depends on a limited buyer pool.

Entry price alone should never decide the purchase. Two homes at the same median price in the same city can differ by tens of thousands of dollars in value depending on condition, and condition is exactly what a median cannot show you. Resideline estimates condition from listing photos, exposes the comparable sales behind every valuation so you can adjust them yourself, and freezes each estimate at listing before grading it against the actual closing price, with results published on the public accuracy dashboard. Live valuations cover 31 states.

Before committing, run the address through the ARV calculator if there is a renovation involved, then the deal analyzer for the complete purchase, rehab, and financing view. Browse local data through the market pages. Every one of the free tools works without a signup. And research rent on the actual property before you trust any cash-flow number, including your own.