Rank

937of 3,144

Putnam, Tennessee

Score 6.64 / 10· population 83,844

Putnam County's cities are Algood, Baxter, Cookeville and Monterey, and Cookeville, the county seat, sits on I-40 about 80 miles east of Nashville and 102 miles west of Knoxville. Tennessee Tech University had 10,701 students there in fall 2025. Fine-particle air pollution averaged 6.1 micrograms per cubic meter in 2020, below Tennessee's 7.0.

Sources
  • Putnam County includes the cities of Algood, Baxter, Cookeville, and Monterey. putnamcountytn.gov
  • Cookeville is the county seat of Putnam County. cookeville-tn.gov
  • Cookeville is at the intersection of I-40 and Highway 111. cookeville-tn.gov
  • Cookeville is 80 miles east of Nashville and 102 miles west of Knoxville. cookeville-tn.gov
  • Tennessee Tech's total student body was 10,701 in the fall 2025 census. tntech.edu
  • Putnam County average daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was 6.1 micrograms per cubic meter (County Health Rankings 2025; data year 2020 per its technical documentation). countyhealthrankings.org
  • Tennessee average daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was 7.0 micrograms per cubic meter (County Health Rankings 2025; data year 2020). 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 President7.3
  4. Sales tax1.1
  5. Property tax7.6

Environment

  1. Air quality6.7
  2. Floods / hurricanes4.0

Private behavior

  1. Homicide rate8.0
  2. Life expectancy3.7
  3. Government employees6.2
  4. Single-parent households4.3

Neighbors