Tale of the Tape: How La Vergne and Smyrna Stack Up

The rivalry between Smyrna and La Vergne runs deep. Bulldogs bark at Wolverines and Wolverines...make whatever noise Wolverines make back at Bulldogs. There was a t-shirt in vogue in the late 90s reading "The Best Thing About Smyrna Is That It's Not La Vergne." Certainly, the shirt was more popular on one side of Sam Ridley Parkway than the other.

As part of the release of its annual "50 Best Places To Live" list, Money magazine added a handy tool which compares any two cities in America by seven metrics.

Here's how Rutherford County's rivals measured up:

• Percent of Residents With at Least a Bachelor's Degree: Smyrna jumps to an early lead, with 23 percent of its 45,746 residents holding a bachelor's degree or more. In La Vergne, that figure is 18.2 percent.
• Average Commute Time: With La Vergne closer to Nashville, it would be easy to assume that commute times there would be shorter. But, well, you know what they say about assuming (they say don't do it). Smyrnites average a 27 minute commute; La Vergnians come in at 29. This could be, perhaps, because of the number of Smyrnans employed at Nissan, which of course does not require a drive into the Music City.
• Median Family Income: Chalk up another win for Smyrna. The median income of $58,724 is nearly $2,000 more than median of $56,972 up the road in La Vergne.
• Projected Five-Year Job Growth: And La Vergne gets on the board! With 8 percent project job growth in the next half-decade, it not only exceeds the national average of 5 percent, but beats Smyrna's 6 percent projection.
• Unemployment Rate: At 4.1 percent, the cities tie, though it's likely Money just used the Rutherford County figure for both.
• Median Home Price: If cheaper is better (and it is), La Vergne wins another. The median home price of $149,000 is nearly $26,000 less than that farther south, where the middle ground for property is $174,900.
• Average Property Tax: Less expensive homes means lower tax bills, right? The average La Vergne property tax bill is $1,088 compared to Smyrna's $1,245. That gap may widen, as La Vergne has lowered its property tax rate two years in a row.

Looks like Money did little to settle the long-standing debate. Smyrna and La Vergne each took three categories and a push on unemployment makes this one a draw. Play with Money's widget and compare any two cities, or a city with the national average.

Image via the Imperial War Museum