Athens vs Etowah

A side-by-side comparison of Athens and Etowah: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Athens has the higher population (14,250 vs 3,621 in Etowah). Athens has the higher median household income ($53,151 vs $43,614 in Etowah). Athens has the higher median home value ($197,300 vs $165,900 in Etowah).

Population, income & housing

	Athens	Etowah
Population	14,250	3,621
Median age	40.8 yrs	42.1 yrs
Median household income	$53,151	$43,614
Median home value	$197,300	$165,900
Median gross rent	$807	$817
Housing units	6,678	1,871
Homeownership rate	58.1%	63.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.6%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	18.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Athens	Etowah
Population	13,851 → 14,250 (+2.9%)	3,468 → 3,621 (+4.4%)
Median household income	$31,913 → $53,151 (+66.5%)	$36,667 → $43,614 (+18.9%)
Median home value	$148,800 → $197,300 (+32.6%)	$98,600 → $165,900 (+68.3%)
Median gross rent	$708 → $807 (+14.0%)	$572 → $817 (+42.8%)

Athens

Population

13,85114,250

Median household income

$31,913$53,151

Median home value

$148,800$197,300

Median gross rent

$708$807

Etowah

Population

3,4683,621

Median household income

$36,667$43,614

Median home value

$98,600$165,900

Median gross rent

$572$817

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Athens	Etowah
Under 5	5.5%	10.6%
5 to 17	12.4%	14.3%
18 to 24	11.9%	6.5%
25 to 34	13.9%	13.3%
35 to 44	13.7%	9.1%
45 to 54	13.7%	14.0%
55 to 64	11.7%	9.8%
65 to 74	10.2%	9.1%
75 and over	7.0%	13.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Athens	Etowah
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4%	73.8%
Black or African American	6.1%	6.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.6%	13.1%
Hispanic or Latino	6.6%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Athens	Etowah
No high school diploma	13.3%	16.3%
High school graduate	35.4%	40.7%
Some college or associate's	28.6%	20.5%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	14.0%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Athens	Etowah
Drove alone	84.5%	89.7%
Carpooled	8.6%	3.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.1%	6.2%
Other means	0.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Athens	Etowah
1-unit, detached	68.3%	87.8%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	12.1%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	0.7%
20 or more units	4.1%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	3.2%

Poverty & households

	Athens	Etowah
Poverty rate	18.4%	15.5%
Average household size	2.21	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	22	20
Median year structure built	1972	1971