Fentress County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Fentress County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fentress County has the higher population (18,948 vs 17,702 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($60,227 vs $50,865 in Fentress County). Fentress County has the higher median home value ($151,800 vs $136,400 in Polk County).

Population, income & housing

	Fentress County	Polk County
Population	18,948	17,702
Median age	47.0 yrs	46.2 yrs
Median household income	$50,865	$60,227
Median home value	$151,800	$136,400
Median gross rent	$614	$668
Housing units	9,228	8,856
Homeownership rate	80.6%	84.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	14.7%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fentress County	Polk County
Population	18,213 → 18,948 (+4.0%)	16,814 → 17,702 (+5.3%)
Median household income	$36,520 → $50,865 (+39.3%)	$43,306 → $60,227 (+39.1%)
Median home value	$110,400 → $151,800 (+37.5%)	$112,700 → $136,400 (+21.0%)
Median gross rent	$526 → $614 (+16.7%)	$688 → $668 (-2.9%)

Fentress County

Population

18,21318,948

Median household income

$36,520$50,865

Median home value

$110,400$151,800

Median gross rent

$526$614

Polk County

Population

16,81417,702

Median household income

$43,306$60,227

Median home value

$112,700$136,400

Median gross rent

$688$668

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fentress County	Polk County
Under 5	5.4%	4.6%
5 to 17	15.0%	14.5%
18 to 24	7.3%	7.2%
25 to 34	10.5%	10.9%
35 to 44	10.4%	11.2%
45 to 54	12.9%	15.0%
55 to 64	15.5%	15.8%
65 to 74	14.1%	12.4%
75 and over	9.0%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fentress County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.4%	90.4%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.1%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fentress County	Polk County
No high school diploma	16.8%	14.3%
High school graduate	42.2%	38.0%
Some college or associate's	25.8%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	9.8%	9.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fentress County	Polk County
Drove alone	83.9%	80.4%
Carpooled	7.1%	9.4%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	1.6%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.7%	8.0%
Other means	2.2%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fentress County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	73.9%	69.1%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	2.4%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	19.6%	25.8%

Poverty & households

	Fentress County	Polk County
Poverty rate	20.9%	13.3%
Average household size	2.44	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	25	31
Median year structure built	1988	1991