Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Area Profile

161,445 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Murfreesboro, in Rutherford County.

73out of 100
Area Score
Top 11% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 10% of 3,904 published cities77
SchoolsTop 14% of 2,668 published cities80
GrowthTop 7% of 2,973 published cities78
Housing affordability2929th of 4,223 published cities68
ClimateTop 49% of 4,223 published cities71
Physical resilienceTop 48% of 4,182 published cities60
AccessTop 33% of 4,226 published cities96
Economic stabilityTop 33% of 4,226 published cities68
The quick read

Murfreesboro ranks in the top 10% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.3% and median household income of $80,108.

1,489 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 9% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

A major airport is 12 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
161,445
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$80,108
Top 34% nationally
Density
2,501/sq mi
64.5 sq mi of land
Median age
31.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Rutherford County
Tennessee
Metro area
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
Nearest major airport
MQY
12 mi · Smyrna
Median home value
$402,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.3% is lower than 89% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.4% over the past year, to 95,814 employed residents.

43% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 84% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,209$80,108Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,159$39,784Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.8%Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.9 minTop 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher43.0%Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment95,814Top 39%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.9%Top 15%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.4%Top 40%June 2026
Labor force99,067Top 39%June 2026
Labor force participation72.9%Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$66,390Bottom 38%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,390Bottom 45%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 41%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.3%Bottom 11%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.62.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202480k67k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $80,108 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand33,120$39,790
Fast Food and Counter Workers28,680$29,150
Retail Salespersons28,580$34,420
Registered Nurses25,100$84,040
General and Operations Managers23,820$119,990
Customer Service Representatives20,770$45,510

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 39% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

Public schools
33
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
Math proficiency
45.8%
Top 21% in Tennessee
Reading proficiency
38.9%
Top 19% in Tennessee
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Blackman High SchoolRutherford County2,301
Riverdale High SchoolRutherford County2,275
Siegel High SchoolRutherford County1,910
Oakland High SchoolRutherford County1,872
Blackman Middle SchoolRutherford County1,72754%35%
Oakland Middle SchoolRutherford County1,22435%24%
Central Magnet SchoolRutherford County1,22282%92%
Siegel Middle SchoolRutherford County1,19638%30%
Brown's Chapel Elementary SchoolRutherford County1,00242%38%
Barfield ElementaryRutherford County96950%42%
Blackman Elementary SchoolRutherford County95439%40%
Salem Elementary SchoolMurfreesboro94635%32%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Tennessee’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,481 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.0 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
22.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,481
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$402,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.02Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate52.4%Bottom 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±94366,400Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$41$1,481Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,124$402,100Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.2%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.6%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
78/ 100
Top 7% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 9% since 2020, reaching 168,387 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 16% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 9.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
1,489
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
9.2
Top 15% nationally
Year over year
+9%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
16.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024168k154k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020222023202420252k1k
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−13%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 30°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 50.5 inches, including 4.7 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NASHVILLE INTL AP, 23.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation50.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall4.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low30°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing41°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

60 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and lightning.

EarthquakeElevated
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, tornado, strong wind, heat wave, ice storm, hail, hurricane, drought, wildfire, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Rutherford County records 4.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 11.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 19.9 per 100,000 residents in Rutherford County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
11.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
19.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Rutherford County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Murfreesboro rather than Murfreesboro itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 12 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
SmyrnaMQY12 mi8,038 ft
Nashville IntlBNA24 mi11,030 ft
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV86 mi10,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
73
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Other cities in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Nashville-DavidsonDavidson County690,130vs Murfreesboro
FranklinWilliamson County87,13380vs Murfreesboro
HendersonvilleSumner County63,09172vs Murfreesboro
SmyrnaRutherford County56,69272vs Murfreesboro
Spring HillMaury County55,76578vs Murfreesboro
GallatinSumner County48,53269vs Murfreesboro
BrentwoodWilliamson County45,55677vs Murfreesboro
ColumbiaMaury County45,44157vs Murfreesboro
LebanonWilson County44,78864vs Murfreesboro
Mount JulietWilson County42,07375vs Murfreesboro
La VergneRutherford County40,24365vs Murfreesboro
SpringfieldRobertson County19,25571vs Murfreesboro

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Murfreesboro

5 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3712879,268$93,66576
3712963,652$91,25975
3713058,064$62,70670
3712721,499$91,40172
371322,704