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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-BELLE-MEADE-TN · Belle Meade, TN 2,824 pop · income 99th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Belle Meade
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Belle Meade on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Decherd · lowest
34,646
Decherd · lowest
34,646 median HH income
13.9% of the leader · rank #1
Belle Meade · this city
250,001
Belle Meade · this city
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Castle Hill · highest
250,001
Castle Hill · highest
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Alamo · near
250,001
Alamo · near
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Atherton · near
250,001
Atherton · near
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bell Canyon · near
250,001
Bell Canyon · near
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Belvedere · near
250,001
Belvedere · near
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Belle Meade on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 2,824.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Belle Meade - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Belle Meade places in the 99th percentile for household income and the 70th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
99th
percentile, household income
99th
percentile, home value
34th
percentile, median rent
70th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Belle Meade, TN
Belle Meade is a small town in Tennessee, home to 2,824 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. ACS top-codes median household income at $250,000 or more, so Belle Meade is published at that ceiling rather than as an exact annual figure, with a poverty rate of 0.6%. Belle Meade's published median home value is $2,000,000+, the Census ACS ceiling for owner-occupied units rather than a precise appraisal, and the median resident age is 45.0 years. 89.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 57.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 4 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 43% from five years earlier. Belle Meade reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 839.3 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Tennessee run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Tennessee scores 91.9 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,118 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Tennessee's average monthly utility costs around $218 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Belle Meade's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to reported crime to comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Belle Meade, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Belle Meade?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Belle Meade?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 839.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 63% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Belle Meade?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Decherd (2,816 residents, $34,646 income); Kingston Springs (2,799 residents, $95,050 income); Blaine (2,797 residents, $66,010 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Knob Noster, MO (2,824 residents); Kewaunee, WI (2,824 residents); East Sonora, CA (2,823 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
How far does income reach against housing in Belle Meade?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Belle Meade growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -278 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -9.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-9.6%
2025 estimate
2,621
2020 estimate
2,899
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Top-coded income · poverty 0.6% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
91.9 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Tennessee average
Note: Census ACS censors the tails of median household income ($250,000+ / under $2,500) and median home value ($2,000,000+ / under $10,000).
Belle Meade's income is shown as $250,000+ - a bound shared with other high-income places, not an exact annual figure. Home value is shown as $2,000,000+ for the same reason.
A+
City profile score · Belle Meade, TN
94/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A+
$250,000+
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
89.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate A+
0.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living B+
91.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Belle Meade profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $250,000+
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 89.0%
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Poverty rate: 96/100 (A+) · 0.6%
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Where Belle Meade sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Belle Meade's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Belle Meade highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Belle Meade, TN (this city): home $2,000,000+, crime 839/100k
Knob Noster, MO : home $146,700, crime 137/100k
Kewaunee, WI : home $134,900, crime 323/100k
Donalsonville, GA : home $100,500, crime 921/100k
Marengo, IA : home $114,100, crime 1,463/100k
Decherd, TN : home $118,600, crime 2,472/100k
Blaine, TN : home $248,600, crime 927/100k
Tazewell, TN : home $163,900, crime 1,570/100k
Brighton, TN : home $190,500, crime 1,146/100k
How does Belle Meade compare to other US cities?
Here's how Belle Meade stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income99% higher than other cities
Home value99% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% pricier than other cities
Safety70% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Tennessee alone, Belle Meade ranks #39 of 174 Tennessee cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Belle Meade against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Tennessee only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Tennessee-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Belle Meade near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Belle Meade ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Belle Meade only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1 of 458
100th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#1 of 455
100th percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#423 of 482
12th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1 of 482
100th percentile in Tennessee
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Tennessee only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
99th percentile nationally for median household income · 70th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Belle Meade's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Belle Meade's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Belle Meade's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$2,000,000+1st percentilemore affordable than 1% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Belle Meade's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,011 of 15,516
More affordable than 3% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,013 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 8.0×, Belle Meade sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,011 of 15,516 and #11,013 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$250,000+Belle Meade, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Belle Meade, TN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Belle Meade, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)89.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,824
Median Income
$250,000+
Median Home Value
$2,000,000+
Median Age
45.0
Poverty Rate
0.6%
Labor force participation
57.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
89.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
839.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
839.3
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Belle Meade's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,899 residents
2021
2,759 residents
2022
2,694 residents
2023
2,640 residents
2024
2,626 residents
2025
2,621 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
7
7
0
$18.4M
2020
6
6
0
$12.3M
2021
14
14
0
$48.9M
2022
9
9
0
$27.0M
2023
4
4
0
$13.9M
2024
4
4
0
$18.6M
Permit volume decreased 43% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.7%
Carpool
0.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
23.4%
Other
1.0%
Based on 1,221 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Tennessee statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $218
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Tennessee at $218 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Tennessee statewide averages, not a meter reading for Belle Meade. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Tennessee's BEA cost-of-living index is 91.9 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Belle Meade is $1,118/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Tennessee statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Tennessee statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Belle Meade sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Belle Meade compares to similar-size Tennessee cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.