MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- WMOT news partner Wallethub.com is out with a new survey of the American cities with the highest and lowest concentrations of economically disadvantaged people.
Tennessee did not score well.
The study looked at 16 different criteria, including the percentage of households receiving public assistance, employment rates and food insecurity.
Tennessee had four cities show up in thetop 150 metro areas surveyed. Nashville fared best, ranking 86th. That score was, however, well below average.
Knoxville came in at 118, while Chattanooga scored 128 in the survey. Memphis had one of the worst scores in the nation, coming in third from the bottom.
Wallethub’s Jill Gonzalez says Tennessee has some of the country’s worst poverty rates and also scores poorly on the food insecurity index.
“And that in Nashville is 17.5 percent, lower on the list, and that’s the amount of people who don’t know when their next meal is coming or where their next meal is coming from. So that’s an area where Nashville could definitely see some improvement.”
Gonzalez says Tennessee’s score was helped by having a relatively low unemployment rate, currently standing at 6.5 percent.