Carter County vs Jefferson County

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

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

Carter County has the higher population (56,462 vs 55,835 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median household income ($63,084 vs $48,435 in Carter County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($210,000 vs $157,200 in Carter County).

Population, income & housing

	Carter County	Jefferson County
Population	56,462	55,835
Median age	45.8 yrs	44.1 yrs
Median household income	$48,435	$63,084
Median home value	$157,200	$210,000
Median gross rent	$738	$880
Housing units	27,982	25,223
Homeownership rate	74.1%	74.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	21.0%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carter County	Jefferson County
Population	56,433 → 56,462 (+0.1%)	53,679 → 55,835 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$38,092 → $48,435 (+27.2%)	$49,139 → $63,084 (+28.4%)
Median home value	$122,600 → $157,200 (+28.2%)	$146,300 → $210,000 (+43.5%)
Median gross rent	$632 → $738 (+16.8%)	$681 → $880 (+29.2%)

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

Jefferson County

Population

53,67955,835

Median household income

$49,139$63,084

Median home value

$146,300$210,000

Median gross rent

$681$880

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carter County	Jefferson County
Under 5	4.0%	4.6%
5 to 17	13.9%	14.6%
18 to 24	7.8%	8.7%
25 to 34	12.0%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.3%	11.1%
45 to 54	13.8%	13.3%
55 to 64	14.9%	15.7%
65 to 74	12.9%	12.0%
75 and over	9.4%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carter County	Jefferson County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.3%	90.3%
Black or African American	2.0%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	4.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carter County	Jefferson County
No high school diploma	11.3%	11.1%
High school graduate	37.9%	36.4%
Some college or associate's	30.1%	31.5%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	12.8%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	8.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carter County	Jefferson County
Drove alone	85.0%	84.8%
Carpooled	6.0%	7.4%
Public transit	0.3%	0.3%
Walked	0.8%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.8%	5.5%
Other means	1.0%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carter County	Jefferson County
1-unit, detached	67.8%	68.3%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	2.4%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	21.7%

Poverty & households

	Carter County	Jefferson County
Poverty rate	18.0%	11.5%
Average household size	2.27	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	24	28
Median year structure built	1977	1990