Unpopular opinion: Tennessee isn’t always No. 1, contrary to what its residents believe in their heart of hearts.

While Tennessee’s economy might be faring well, in other areas – such as education, health care and crime – the Volunteer State isn’t doing as well.

There are countless websites and reports that measure where we stand as a state + we’ve rounded up details to see how Tennessee compares. 👇

Let’s start with the good news.

via GIPHY

✅ Bright spots

From a 2019 US News & World Report (rankings out of 50), which used data from McKinsey Global Institute:

#1 in Fiscal Stability
#12 in Economy
#13 in Infrastructure
Compared to 2018, Tennessee improved in fiscal stability, jumping from #5 to #1.
Infrastructure also got better, moving up two spots from #15 to #13.

And now for the bad news.

Tennessee comes in low in these categories. 👇

✅ Areas that need improvement

#26 in opportunity to succeed
#35 in education
#43 in health care
#43 in crime & corrections

In 2018, Tennessee ranked #28 for education – so we’ve dipped down seven spots.

Last year, we ranked #43 in both health care and crime, so while we didn’t fall any spots, we also didn’t make improvements, based on these metrics.

✅ More rankings

In other reports, Tennessee consistently ranks as a great place to retire.
WalletHub ranked Tennessee as the fifth most sinful state.
Tennessee ranks as a leader in the auto industry.
WalletHub ranked Tennessee #23 on its list of 2019’s Most Fun States in America.
Tennessee ranked in the top 5 for highest variety of arts, entertainment, and recreation establishments.

Check out this link for additional rankings.

✅ Poll

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