Athens vs Riceville

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

Athens and Riceville 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 776 in Riceville). Athens has the higher median household income ($53,151 vs $44,440 in Riceville). Riceville has the higher median home value ($198,400 vs $197,300 in Athens).

Population, income & housing

	Athens	Riceville
Population	14,250	776
Median age	40.8 yrs	39.9 yrs
Median household income	$53,151	$44,440
Median home value	$197,300	$198,400
Median gross rent	$807	$731
Housing units	6,678	345
Homeownership rate	58.1%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.6%	20.9%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Athens	Riceville
Population	13,851 → 14,250 (+2.9%)	1,107 → 776 (-29.9%)
Median household income	$31,913 → $53,151 (+66.5%)	$55,861 → $44,440 (-20.4%)
Median home value	$148,800 → $197,300 (+32.6%)	$127,700 → $198,400 (+55.4%)
Median gross rent	$708 → $807 (+14.0%)	$799 → $731 (-8.5%)

Athens

Population

13,85114,250

Median household income

$31,913$53,151

Median home value

$148,800$197,300

Median gross rent

$708$807

Riceville

Population

1,107776

Median household income

$55,861$44,440

Median home value

$127,700$198,400

Median gross rent

$799$731

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Athens	Riceville
Under 5	5.5%	5.7%
5 to 17	12.4%	18.7%
18 to 24	11.9%	1.8%
25 to 34	13.9%	15.9%
35 to 44	13.7%	8.4%
45 to 54	13.7%	16.1%
55 to 64	11.7%	16.5%
65 to 74	10.2%	4.6%
75 and over	7.0%	12.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Athens	Riceville
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4%	87.0%
Black or African American	6.1%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	1.3%
Asian	1.2%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.6%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	6.6%	8.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Athens	Riceville
No high school diploma	13.3%	10.5%
High school graduate	35.4%	53.4%
Some college or associate's	28.6%	15.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	15.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Athens	Riceville
Drove alone	84.5%	81.1%
Carpooled	8.6%	11.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	7.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.1%	0.0%
Other means	0.5%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Athens	Riceville
1-unit, detached	68.3%	50.1%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	12.1%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	4.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	49.9%

Poverty & households

	Athens	Riceville
Poverty rate	18.4%	6.6%
Average household size	2.21	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	22	18
Median year structure built	1972	1994