Cocke County vs Rhea County

A side-by-side comparison of Cocke County and Rhea County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cocke County has the higher population (36,503 vs 33,299 in Rhea County). Rhea County has the higher median household income ($58,133 vs $48,416 in Cocke County). Rhea County has the higher median home value ($178,500 vs $141,800 in Cocke County).

Population, income & housing

	Cocke County	Rhea County
Population	36,503	33,299
Median age	45.4 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$48,416	$58,133
Median home value	$141,800	$178,500
Median gross rent	$787	$796
Housing units	17,883	15,311
Homeownership rate	71.2%	73.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.6%	17.4%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cocke County	Rhea County
Population	35,552 → 36,503 (+2.7%)	32,719 → 33,299 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$36,716 → $48,416 (+31.9%)	$42,206 → $58,133 (+37.7%)
Median home value	$112,900 → $141,800 (+25.6%)	$122,600 → $178,500 (+45.6%)
Median gross rent	$646 → $787 (+21.8%)	$647 → $796 (+23.0%)

Cocke County

Population

35,55236,503

Median household income

$36,716$48,416

Median home value

$112,900$141,800

Median gross rent

$646$787

Rhea County

Population

32,71933,299

Median household income

$42,206$58,133

Median home value

$122,600$178,500

Median gross rent

$647$796

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cocke County	Rhea County
Under 5	5.7%	6.2%
5 to 17	14.8%	15.9%
18 to 24	6.9%	8.3%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.7%
35 to 44	10.6%	12.1%
45 to 54	13.2%	12.6%
55 to 64	15.6%	13.9%
65 to 74	13.5%	11.9%
75 and over	8.3%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cocke County	Rhea County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.3%	87.5%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.4%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cocke County	Rhea County
No high school diploma	16.3%	15.9%
High school graduate	47.4%	41.4%
Some college or associate's	24.6%	25.3%
Bachelor's degree	7.5%	11.8%
Graduate or professional degree	4.1%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cocke County	Rhea County
Drove alone	79.9%	81.2%
Carpooled	12.0%	10.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	1.3%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.9%	6.1%
Other means	2.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cocke County	Rhea County
1-unit, detached	61.6%	68.2%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	9.4%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	1.5%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	29.6%	20.0%

Poverty & households

	Cocke County	Rhea County
Poverty rate	20.3%	15.3%
Average household size	2.39	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	32	28
Median year structure built	1987	1991