Johnson County vs Polk County

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

Johnson 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.

Johnson County has the higher population (18,073 vs 17,702 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($60,227 vs $52,152 in Johnson County). Johnson County has the higher median home value ($175,500 vs $136,400 in Polk County).

Population, income & housing

	Johnson County	Polk County
Population	18,073	17,702
Median age	46.4 yrs	46.2 yrs
Median household income	$52,152	$60,227
Median home value	$175,500	$136,400
Median gross rent	$639	$668
Housing units	8,755	8,856
Homeownership rate	78.6%	84.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%	14.7%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Johnson County	Polk County
Population	17,753 → 18,073 (+1.8%)	16,814 → 17,702 (+5.3%)
Median household income	$36,004 → $52,152 (+44.9%)	$43,306 → $60,227 (+39.1%)
Median home value	$133,100 → $175,500 (+31.9%)	$112,700 → $136,400 (+21.0%)
Median gross rent	$545 → $639 (+17.2%)	$688 → $668 (-2.9%)

Johnson County

Population

17,75318,073

Median household income

$36,004$52,152

Median home value

$133,100$175,500

Median gross rent

$545$639

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)

	Johnson County	Polk County
Under 5	4.1%	4.6%
5 to 17	12.7%	14.5%
18 to 24	7.0%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.2%	10.9%
35 to 44	11.7%	11.2%
45 to 54	14.3%	15.0%
55 to 64	14.8%	15.8%
65 to 74	13.8%	12.4%
75 and over	9.5%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Johnson County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.0%	90.4%
Black or African American	3.7%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.1%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Johnson County	Polk County
No high school diploma	18.7%	14.3%
High school graduate	38.3%	38.0%
Some college or associate's	27.4%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.2%	9.2%
Graduate or professional degree	4.5%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Johnson County	Polk County
Drove alone	78.6%	80.4%
Carpooled	12.8%	9.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.1%	8.0%
Other means	0.5%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Johnson County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	72.8%	69.1%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	4.0%	2.4%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	19.6%	25.8%

Poverty & households

	Johnson County	Polk County
Poverty rate	22.1%	13.3%
Average household size	2.29	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	26	31
Median year structure built	1980	1991