Central vs Watauga

A side-by-side comparison of Central and Watauga: population, income, housing, and more.

Central and Watauga are places in Tennessee. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Central has the higher population (1,944 vs 631 in Watauga). Watauga has the higher median household income ($56,912 vs $42,292 in Central). Watauga has the higher median home value ($128,800 vs $126,700 in Central).

Population, income & housing

	Central	Watauga
Population	1,944	631
Median age	52.5 yrs	44.0 yrs
Median household income	$42,292	$56,912
Median home value	$126,700	$128,800
Median gross rent	$889	—
Housing units	1,026	301
Homeownership rate	78.0%	93.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.2%	26.7%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	13.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Central	Watauga
Population	2,217 → 1,944 (-12.3%)	411 → 631 (+53.5%)
Median household income	$27,188 → $42,292 (+55.6%)	$32,321 → $56,912 (+76.1%)
Median home value	$126,200 → $126,700 (+0.4%)	$88,300 → $128,800 (+45.9%)
Median gross rent	$588 → $889 (+51.2%)	$760 → $813 (+7.0%)

Central

Population

2,2171,944

Median household income

$27,188$42,292

Median home value

$126,200$126,700

Median gross rent

$588$889

Watauga

Population

411631

Median household income

$32,321$56,912

Median home value

$88,300$128,800

Median gross rent

$760$813

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Central	Watauga
Under 5	2.9%	2.1%
5 to 17	12.4%	12.7%
18 to 24	9.8%	9.8%
25 to 34	6.8%	7.0%
35 to 44	8.0%	19.8%
45 to 54	12.9%	11.9%
55 to 64	20.3%	19.2%
65 to 74	18.6%	7.8%
75 and over	8.2%	9.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Central	Watauga
White (non-Hispanic)	98.1%	84.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	7.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.1%	0.6%
Hispanic or Latino	0.8%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Central	Watauga
No high school diploma	10.2%	12.6%
High school graduate	33.7%	35.1%
Some college or associate's	41.9%	25.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.5%	17.4%
Graduate or professional degree	1.7%	9.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Central	Watauga
Drove alone	95.7%	92.6%
Carpooled	3.0%	2.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.3%	5.2%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Central	Watauga
1-unit, detached	52.6%	71.4%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	39.4%	27.9%

Poverty & households

	Central	Watauga
Poverty rate	14.0%	20.9%
Average household size	2.13	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	19	19
Median year structure built	1977	1980