DeKalb County vs Union County

A side-by-side comparison of DeKalb County and Union County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

DeKalb County has the higher population (20,551 vs 20,141 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($61,858 vs $48,484 in DeKalb County). DeKalb County has the higher median home value ($206,600 vs $186,300 in Union County).

Population, income & housing

	DeKalb County	Union County
Population	20,551	20,141
Median age	42.2 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$48,484	$61,858
Median home value	$206,600	$186,300
Median gross rent	$773	$849
Housing units	10,033	9,719
Homeownership rate	68.9%	80.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.0%	14.5%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	DeKalb County	Union County
Population	19,847 → 20,551 (+3.5%)	19,488 → 20,141 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$45,511 → $48,484 (+6.5%)	$44,671 → $61,858 (+38.5%)
Median home value	$148,600 → $206,600 (+39.0%)	$124,700 → $186,300 (+49.4%)
Median gross rent	$644 → $773 (+20.0%)	$685 → $849 (+23.9%)

DeKalb County

Population

19,84720,551

Median household income

$45,511$48,484

Median home value

$148,600$206,600

Median gross rent

$644$773

Union County

Population

19,48820,141

Median household income

$44,671$61,858

Median home value

$124,700$186,300

Median gross rent

$685$849

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	DeKalb County	Union County
Under 5	7.4%	5.3%
5 to 17	14.5%	16.3%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.4%
25 to 34	12.7%	11.8%
35 to 44	11.6%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.1%
55 to 64	15.1%	15.6%
65 to 74	11.6%	11.6%
75 and over	7.2%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	DeKalb County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.6%	94.6%
Black or African American	1.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	DeKalb County	Union County
No high school diploma	17.3%	16.7%
High school graduate	39.4%	43.4%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	25.4%
Bachelor's degree	12.9%	9.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	DeKalb County	Union County
Drove alone	80.7%	78.3%
Carpooled	10.4%	7.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.8%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	11.0%
Other means	0.7%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	DeKalb County	Union County
1-unit, detached	75.5%	72.6%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	0.5%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	2.4%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	14.3%	23.3%

Poverty & households

	DeKalb County	Union County
Poverty rate	21.4%	13.9%
Average household size	2.38	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	29	34
Median year structure built	1984	1993