Rank

1473of 3,144

Polk, Tennessee

Score 6.34 / 10· population 18,033

Polk County fills Tennessee's southeast corner against Georgia and North Carolina, and about 150,000 of its acres are Cherokee National Forest; TVA runs three hydro plants on the Ocoee River. The school board, with 322 jobs, and county government, with 117, are the two biggest employers. Crash deaths ran at 27.6 per 100,000 residents in 2016-2022, against 17.2 statewide, and a 2020-2022 life expectancy of 70.7 years trailed Tennessee's by 2.8 years.

Sources
  • Polk County is in the extreme southeastern corner of Tennessee, bounded by North Carolina and Georgia tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • About 150,865 acres of Cherokee National Forest lie in Polk County tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • The Tennessee Valley Authority operates three hydroelectric plants on the Ocoee River tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • Top county employers: Polk County Board of Education 322 and Polk County Government 117, both in Benton, the two largest listed; the largest private employer listed is Life Care Centers with 103 tnecd.com
  • Motor vehicle crash death rate: Polk County 27.6 per 100,000, Tennessee 17.2 (County Health Rankings 2025) countyhealthrankings.org
  • Life expectancy: Polk County 70.7 years, Tennessee 73.5 years (County Health Rankings 2025), a gap of 2.8 years countyhealthrankings.org
  • County Health Rankings 2025 data years: motor vehicle crash deaths 2016-2022; life expectancy 2020-2022 countyhealthrankings.org

v4 — beta, 30 October 2026, sourced values

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Eleven factors

Government behavior

  1. Fraser Institute state ranking (state)8.3
  2. 2A (state)10.0
  3. GOP + LP vote for President8.4
  4. Sales tax1.1
  5. Property tax7.8

Environment

  1. Air quality6.1
  2. Floods / hurricanes5.4

Private behavior

  1. Homicide rate7.7
  2. Life expectancy0.5
  3. Government employees2.3
  4. Single-parent households3.4

Neighbors