Jefferson County vs Roane County

A side-by-side comparison of Jefferson County and Roane County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jefferson County has the higher population (55,835 vs 54,403 in Roane County). Roane County has the higher median household income ($66,218 vs $63,084 in Jefferson County). Roane County has the higher median home value ($212,300 vs $210,000 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Roane County
Population	55,835	54,403
Median age	44.1 yrs	47.4 yrs
Median household income	$63,084	$66,218
Median home value	$210,000	$212,300
Median gross rent	$880	$767
Housing units	25,223	25,560
Homeownership rate	74.0%	77.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.0%	22.0%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Roane County
Population	53,679 → 55,835 (+4.0%)	53,075 → 54,403 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$49,139 → $63,084 (+28.4%)	$53,367 → $66,218 (+24.1%)
Median home value	$146,300 → $210,000 (+43.5%)	$150,300 → $212,300 (+41.3%)
Median gross rent	$681 → $880 (+29.2%)	$672 → $767 (+14.1%)

Jefferson County

Population

53,67955,835

Median household income

$49,139$63,084

Median home value

$146,300$210,000

Median gross rent

$681$880

Roane County

Population

53,07554,403

Median household income

$53,367$66,218

Median home value

$150,300$212,300

Median gross rent

$672$767

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Roane County
Under 5	4.6%	4.5%
5 to 17	14.6%	14.3%
18 to 24	8.7%	6.8%
25 to 34	11.6%	10.8%
35 to 44	11.1%	10.9%
45 to 54	13.3%	13.6%
55 to 64	15.7%	15.9%
65 to 74	12.0%	13.7%
75 and over	8.2%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Roane County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.3%	91.2%
Black or African American	1.5%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.6%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Roane County
No high school diploma	11.1%	10.7%
High school graduate	36.4%	37.4%
Some college or associate's	31.5%	29.8%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	12.8%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	9.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Roane County
Drove alone	84.8%	81.5%
Carpooled	7.4%	7.5%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	1.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.5%	9.1%
Other means	0.2%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Roane County
1-unit, detached	68.3%	75.6%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	3.1%
20 or more units	0.5%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	21.7%	13.1%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Roane County
Poverty rate	11.5%	12.7%
Average household size	2.54	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1990	1979