Carter County vs Hawkins County

A side-by-side comparison of Carter County and Hawkins County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Hawkins County has the higher population (57,446 vs 56,462 in Carter County). Hawkins County has the higher median household income ($55,278 vs $48,435 in Carter County). Hawkins County has the higher median home value ($166,900 vs $157,200 in Carter County).

Population, income & housing

	Carter County	Hawkins County
Population	56,462	57,446
Median age	45.8 yrs	45.9 yrs
Median household income	$48,435	$55,278
Median home value	$157,200	$166,900
Median gross rent	$738	$744
Housing units	27,982	27,299
Homeownership rate	74.1%	79.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	16.8%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	8.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carter County	Hawkins County
Population	56,433 → 56,462 (+0.1%)	56,611 → 57,446 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$38,092 → $48,435 (+27.2%)	$41,924 → $55,278 (+31.9%)
Median home value	$122,600 → $157,200 (+28.2%)	$124,100 → $166,900 (+34.5%)
Median gross rent	$632 → $738 (+16.8%)	$638 → $744 (+16.6%)

Carter County

Population

56,43356,462

Median household income

$38,092$48,435

Median home value

$122,600$157,200

Median gross rent

$632$738

Hawkins County

Population

56,61157,446

Median household income

$41,924$55,278

Median home value

$124,100$166,900

Median gross rent

$638$744

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carter County	Hawkins County
Under 5	4.0%	4.9%
5 to 17	13.9%	14.4%
18 to 24	7.8%	7.4%
25 to 34	12.0%	11.1%
35 to 44	11.3%	11.0%
45 to 54	13.8%	14.1%
55 to 64	14.9%	15.5%
65 to 74	12.9%	12.8%
75 and over	9.4%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carter County	Hawkins County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.3%	94.0%
Black or African American	2.0%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carter County	Hawkins County
No high school diploma	11.3%	13.6%
High school graduate	37.9%	42.9%
Some college or associate's	30.1%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	11.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carter County	Hawkins County
Drove alone	85.0%	80.9%
Carpooled	6.0%	5.0%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	0.8%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.8%	10.0%
Other means	1.0%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carter County	Hawkins County
1-unit, detached	67.8%	68.8%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	4.6%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	21.4%

Poverty & households

	Carter County	Hawkins County
Poverty rate	18.0%	17.1%
Average household size	2.27	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1977	1984