Fentress County vs Union County

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

Fentress 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.

Union County has the higher population (20,141 vs 18,948 in Fentress County). Union County has the higher median household income ($61,858 vs $50,865 in Fentress County). Union County has the higher median home value ($186,300 vs $151,800 in Fentress County).

Population, income & housing

	Fentress County	Union County
Population	18,948	20,141
Median age	47.0 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$50,865	$61,858
Median home value	$151,800	$186,300
Median gross rent	$614	$849
Housing units	9,228	9,719
Homeownership rate	80.6%	80.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	14.5%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fentress County	Union County
Population	18,213 → 18,948 (+4.0%)	19,488 → 20,141 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$36,520 → $50,865 (+39.3%)	$44,671 → $61,858 (+38.5%)
Median home value	$110,400 → $151,800 (+37.5%)	$124,700 → $186,300 (+49.4%)
Median gross rent	$526 → $614 (+16.7%)	$685 → $849 (+23.9%)

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

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)

	Fentress County	Union County
Under 5	5.4%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.0%	16.3%
18 to 24	7.3%	7.4%
25 to 34	10.5%	11.8%
35 to 44	10.4%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.9%	13.1%
55 to 64	15.5%	15.6%
65 to 74	14.1%	11.6%
75 and over	9.0%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fentress County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.4%	94.6%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.1%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fentress County	Union County
No high school diploma	16.8%	16.7%
High school graduate	42.2%	43.4%
Some college or associate's	25.8%	25.4%
Bachelor's degree	9.8%	9.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fentress County	Union County
Drove alone	83.9%	78.3%
Carpooled	7.1%	7.4%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	1.6%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.7%	11.0%
Other means	2.2%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fentress County	Union County
1-unit, detached	73.9%	72.6%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	0.5%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	2.4%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	19.6%	23.3%

Poverty & households

	Fentress County	Union County
Poverty rate	20.9%	13.9%
Average household size	2.44	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	25	34
Median year structure built	1988	1993