Benton County vs Chester County

A side-by-side comparison of Benton County and Chester County: population, income, housing, and more.

Benton County and Chester County are counties in Tennessee. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Chester County has the higher population (17,452 vs 15,948 in Benton County). Chester County has the higher median household income ($60,543 vs $50,435 in Benton County). Chester County has the higher median home value ($155,200 vs $123,400 in Benton County).

Population, income & housing

	Benton County	Chester County
Population	15,948	17,452
Median age	47.5 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$50,435	$60,543
Median home value	$123,400	$155,200
Median gross rent	$788	$714
Housing units	8,544	7,251
Homeownership rate	74.7%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.4%	19.2%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benton County	Chester County
Population	16,140 → 15,948 (-1.2%)	17,190 → 17,452 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$37,512 → $50,435 (+34.5%)	$51,946 → $60,543 (+16.5%)
Median home value	$85,600 → $123,400 (+44.2%)	$121,900 → $155,200 (+27.3%)
Median gross rent	$658 → $788 (+19.8%)	$682 → $714 (+4.7%)

Benton County

Population

16,14015,948

Median household income

$37,512$50,435

Median home value

$85,600$123,400

Median gross rent

$658$788

Chester County

Population

17,19017,452

Median household income

$51,946$60,543

Median home value

$121,900$155,200

Median gross rent

$682$714

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benton County	Chester County
Under 5	5.0%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.8%	16.2%
18 to 24	6.9%	13.0%
25 to 34	9.7%	12.3%
35 to 44	10.1%	11.2%
45 to 54	13.2%	12.0%
55 to 64	15.6%	12.2%
65 to 74	14.1%	10.8%
75 and over	9.6%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benton County	Chester County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	84.1%
Black or African American	1.8%	9.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.9%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.7%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	3.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benton County	Chester County
No high school diploma	12.8%	14.3%
High school graduate	48.3%	40.0%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	26.6%
Bachelor's degree	7.5%	11.8%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	7.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benton County	Chester County
Drove alone	84.0%	85.0%
Carpooled	4.8%	5.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.3%	8.4%
Other means	4.8%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benton County	Chester County
1-unit, detached	68.1%	77.7%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	0.7%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	1.5%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	28.5%	15.6%

Poverty & households

	Benton County	Chester County
Poverty rate	18.5%	15.6%
Average household size	2.28	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	26	28
Median year structure built	1983	1989