Rank

2954of 3,144

Shelby, Tennessee

Score 4.68 / 10· population 910,042

Memphis, the Shelby County seat, sits on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff above the Mississippi River. Sales tax there totals 9.75 percent: 7 for the state, 2.25 for the county and 0.5 for the city. Memphis recorded 190 murders in 2025, a rate of 31.3 per 100,000 residents, and in 2024, 43 percent of the county's children lived in homes headed by someone with no spouse or partner, against 26 percent statewide.

Sources
  • The Shelby County seat moved from Raleigh back to Memphis in 1868. tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • Memphis's site, the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff, rises high above the Mississippi River even at flood stage. tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • Combined sales tax in Memphis for 2026 is 9.75%: 7% state, 2.25% Shelby County, 0.5% city. avalara.com
  • Memphis recorded 190 murders in 2025, a rate of 31.3 per 100,000 (city figure). city-data.com
  • ACS 2024 1-year table B09005: 99,783 of 229,442 children in Shelby County households (43%) live in male- or female-householder households with no spouse or partner present; Tennessee 415,553 of 1,571,399 (26%). api.censusreporter.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 President3.6
  4. Sales tax1.6
  5. Property tax5.2

Environment

  1. Air quality4.9
  2. Floods / hurricanes0.1

Private behavior

  1. Homicide rate0.0
  2. Life expectancy2.0
  3. Government employees7.2
  4. Single-parent households0.6

Neighbors