Chester County vs Unicoi County

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

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

Unicoi County has the higher population (17,779 vs 17,452 in Chester County). Chester County has the higher median household income ($60,543 vs $50,381 in Unicoi County). Unicoi County has the higher median home value ($168,200 vs $155,200 in Chester County).

Population, income & housing

	Chester County	Unicoi County
Population	17,452	17,779
Median age	37.8 yrs	47.4 yrs
Median household income	$60,543	$50,381
Median home value	$155,200	$168,200
Median gross rent	$714	$665
Housing units	7,251	8,740
Homeownership rate	76.6%	72.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.2%	20.0%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chester County	Unicoi County
Population	17,190 → 17,452 (+1.5%)	17,811 → 17,779 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$51,946 → $60,543 (+16.5%)	$41,890 → $50,381 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$121,900 → $155,200 (+27.3%)	$129,500 → $168,200 (+29.9%)
Median gross rent	$682 → $714 (+4.7%)	$630 → $665 (+5.6%)

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

Unicoi County

Population

17,81117,779

Median household income

$41,890$50,381

Median home value

$129,500$168,200

Median gross rent

$630$665

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chester County	Unicoi County
Under 5	5.4%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.2%	13.6%
18 to 24	13.0%	7.7%
25 to 34	12.3%	10.7%
35 to 44	11.2%	11.6%
45 to 54	12.0%	13.1%
55 to 64	12.2%	15.6%
65 to 74	10.8%	13.7%
75 and over	6.9%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chester County	Unicoi County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.1%	90.6%
Black or African American	9.8%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	0.2%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chester County	Unicoi County
No high school diploma	14.3%	12.0%
High school graduate	40.0%	37.6%
Some college or associate's	26.6%	30.4%
Bachelor's degree	11.8%	12.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chester County	Unicoi County
Drove alone	85.0%	81.1%
Carpooled	5.0%	7.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.4%	7.3%
Other means	0.5%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chester County	Unicoi County
1-unit, detached	77.7%	69.2%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	4.5%
20 or more units	0.5%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	15.6%	18.2%

Poverty & households

	Chester County	Unicoi County
Poverty rate	15.6%	14.2%
Average household size	2.56	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	28	26
Median year structure built	1989	1976