Grainger County vs Macon County

A side-by-side comparison of Grainger County and Macon County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Macon County has the higher population (25,793 vs 23,929 in Grainger County). Macon County has the higher median household income ($56,269 vs $51,351 in Grainger County). Macon County has the higher median home value ($211,200 vs $172,000 in Grainger County).

Population, income & housing

	Grainger County	Macon County
Population	23,929	25,793
Median age	45.7 yrs	38.3 yrs
Median household income	$51,351	$56,269
Median home value	$172,000	$211,200
Median gross rent	$726	$805
Housing units	11,746	10,845
Homeownership rate	78.7%	71.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.9%	11.8%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Grainger County	Macon County
Population	23,101 → 23,929 (+3.6%)	23,842 → 25,793 (+8.2%)
Median household income	$44,064 → $51,351 (+16.5%)	$37,430 → $56,269 (+50.3%)
Median home value	$119,100 → $172,000 (+44.4%)	$115,000 → $211,200 (+83.7%)
Median gross rent	$641 → $726 (+13.3%)	$673 → $805 (+19.6%)

Grainger County

Population

23,10123,929

Median household income

$44,064$51,351

Median home value

$119,100$172,000

Median gross rent

$641$726

Macon County

Population

23,84225,793

Median household income

$37,430$56,269

Median home value

$115,000$211,200

Median gross rent

$673$805

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Grainger County	Macon County
Under 5	4.7%	6.2%
5 to 17	15.1%	18.8%
18 to 24	6.9%	8.6%
25 to 34	11.0%	13.1%
35 to 44	11.4%	12.3%
45 to 54	14.5%	12.3%
55 to 64	15.1%	13.5%
65 to 74	13.5%	9.4%
75 and over	7.8%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Grainger County	Macon County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	88.7%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	6.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Grainger County	Macon County
No high school diploma	16.2%	18.4%
High school graduate	42.6%	49.3%
Some college or associate's	26.3%	20.5%
Bachelor's degree	8.5%	7.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	3.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Grainger County	Macon County
Drove alone	82.1%	76.5%
Carpooled	9.8%	15.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.1%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.5%	4.5%
Other means	0.6%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Grainger County	Macon County
1-unit, detached	64.8%	68.8%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	1.3%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	2.6%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	30.1%	22.2%

Poverty & households

	Grainger County	Macon County
Poverty rate	16.4%	15.2%
Average household size	2.49	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	32	32
Median year structure built	1992	1990