Carter County vs Roane County

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

Carter County and Roane 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 54,403 in Roane County). Roane County has the higher median household income ($66,218 vs $48,435 in Carter County). Roane County has the higher median home value ($212,300 vs $157,200 in Carter County).

Population, income & housing

	Carter County	Roane County
Population	56,462	54,403
Median age	45.8 yrs	47.4 yrs
Median household income	$48,435	$66,218
Median home value	$157,200	$212,300
Median gross rent	$738	$767
Housing units	27,982	25,560
Homeownership rate	74.1%	77.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	22.0%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carter County	Roane County
Population	56,433 → 56,462 (+0.1%)	53,075 → 54,403 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$38,092 → $48,435 (+27.2%)	$53,367 → $66,218 (+24.1%)
Median home value	$122,600 → $157,200 (+28.2%)	$150,300 → $212,300 (+41.3%)
Median gross rent	$632 → $738 (+16.8%)	$672 → $767 (+14.1%)

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

Roane County

Population

53,07554,403

Median household income

$53,367$66,218

Median home value

$150,300$212,300

Median gross rent

$672$767

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carter County	Roane County
Under 5	4.0%	4.5%
5 to 17	13.9%	14.3%
18 to 24	7.8%	6.8%
25 to 34	12.0%	10.8%
35 to 44	11.3%	10.9%
45 to 54	13.8%	13.6%
55 to 64	14.9%	15.9%
65 to 74	12.9%	13.7%
75 and over	9.4%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carter County	Roane County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.3%	91.2%
Black or African American	2.0%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.3%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.9%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carter County	Roane County
No high school diploma	11.3%	10.7%
High school graduate	37.9%	37.4%
Some college or associate's	30.1%	29.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	12.8%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	9.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carter County	Roane County
Drove alone	85.0%	81.5%
Carpooled	6.0%	7.5%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.8%	9.1%
Other means	1.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carter County	Roane County
1-unit, detached	67.8%	75.6%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	3.1%
20 or more units	0.7%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	13.1%

Poverty & households

	Carter County	Roane County
Poverty rate	18.0%	12.7%
Average household size	2.27	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	24	29
Median year structure built	1977	1979