Benton County vs Wayne County

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

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

Wayne County has the higher population (16,251 vs 15,948 in Benton County). Wayne County has the higher median household income ($52,824 vs $50,435 in Benton County). Wayne County has the higher median home value ($126,600 vs $123,400 in Benton County).

Population, income & housing

	Benton County	Wayne County
Population	15,948	16,251
Median age	47.5 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$50,435	$52,824
Median home value	$123,400	$126,600
Median gross rent	$788	$619
Housing units	8,544	7,205
Homeownership rate	74.7%	81.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.4%	12.5%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benton County	Wayne County
Population	16,140 → 15,948 (-1.2%)	16,693 → 16,251 (-2.6%)
Median household income	$37,512 → $50,435 (+34.5%)	$41,427 → $52,824 (+27.5%)
Median home value	$85,600 → $123,400 (+44.2%)	$95,200 → $126,600 (+33.0%)
Median gross rent	$658 → $788 (+19.8%)	$560 → $619 (+10.5%)

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

Wayne County

Population

16,69316,251

Median household income

$41,427$52,824

Median home value

$95,200$126,600

Median gross rent

$560$619

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benton County	Wayne County
Under 5	5.0%	3.8%
5 to 17	15.8%	13.4%
18 to 24	6.9%	6.9%
25 to 34	9.7%	13.7%
35 to 44	10.1%	13.7%
45 to 54	13.2%	14.8%
55 to 64	15.6%	14.4%
65 to 74	14.1%	11.4%
75 and over	9.6%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benton County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	88.7%
Black or African American	1.8%	4.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.9%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.2%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.7%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benton County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	12.8%	16.5%
High school graduate	48.3%	46.1%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	7.5%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	4.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benton County	Wayne County
Drove alone	84.0%	82.9%
Carpooled	4.8%	7.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	1.1%	0.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.3%	8.9%
Other means	4.8%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benton County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	68.1%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	0.7%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	1.2%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	28.5%	24.5%

Poverty & households

	Benton County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	18.5%	18.5%
Average household size	2.28	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	26	31
Median year structure built	1983	1981