Rank

589of 3,144

Van Buren, Tennessee

Score 6.87 / 10· population 6,493

Van Buren County is mostly level Cumberland Plateau cut by sandstone gorges, with Spencer as its seat and part of Fall Creek Falls State Park within its borders. One in four working residents had a government job in 2020-2024, nearly double Tennessee's 13.7%, and the county and its schools are the first and third largest employers. In 2022, 24% of adults smoked and 31% got no exercise outside work, each about five points above Tennessee's rates.

Sources
  • About 70 percent of Van Buren County is the Plateau region, generally level except where streams have cut gorges (called gulfs) through the sandstone tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • The Van Buren County seat is Spencer tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • Fall Creek Falls State Park covers over 19,000 acres in Van Buren and Bledsoe counties tennesseeencyclopedia.net
  • ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates (table B24080): in Van Buren County 676 of 2,686 employed civilians 16 and over are local, state or federal government workers (25.2%); in Tennessee 459,590 of 3,362,616 (13.7%) api.censusreporter.org
  • TNECD top county employers (all in Spencer): Van Buren County Clerk est. 237 (first), Acument Global Technologies est. 196 (second), Van Buren County Schools est. 178 (third) tnecd.com
  • County Health Rankings 2025 release: adult smoking 24.0% in Van Buren County vs 19.2% in Tennessee; physical inactivity 31.0% vs 26.5% countyhealthrankings.org
  • The 2025 County Health Rankings release used 2022 data for adult smoking countyhealthrankings.org
  • The 2025 County Health Rankings release used 2022 data for physical inactivity, defined as adults reporting no leisure-time physical activity 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 President8.3
  4. Sales tax1.1
  5. Property tax7.8

Environment

  1. Air quality6.1
  2. Floods / hurricanes8.1

Private behavior

  1. Homicide rate9.4
  2. Life expectancy0.8
  3. Government employees0.3
  4. Single-parent households9.4

Neighbors