Knox County vs Montgomery County

A side-by-side comparison of Knox County and Montgomery County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Knox County has the higher population (487,401 vs 227,957 in Montgomery County). Montgomery County has the higher median household income ($72,365 vs $71,662 in Knox County). Knox County has the higher median home value ($279,700 vs $248,300 in Montgomery County).

Population, income & housing

	Knox County	Montgomery County
Population	487,401	227,957
Median age	37.3 yrs	31.7 yrs
Median household income	$71,662	$72,365
Median home value	$279,700	$248,300
Median gross rent	$1,180	$1,219
Housing units	214,606	90,226
Homeownership rate	64.9%	62.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.2%	31.7%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Knox County	Montgomery County
Population	461,104 → 487,401 (+5.7%)	200,180 → 227,957 (+13.9%)
Median household income	$57,470 → $71,662 (+24.7%)	$57,541 → $72,365 (+25.8%)
Median home value	$183,200 → $279,700 (+52.7%)	$165,800 → $248,300 (+49.8%)
Median gross rent	$892 → $1,180 (+32.3%)	$971 → $1,219 (+25.5%)

Knox County

Population

461,104487,401

Median household income

$57,470$71,662

Median home value

$183,200$279,700

Median gross rent

$892$1,180

Montgomery County

Population

200,180227,957

Median household income

$57,541$72,365

Median home value

$165,800$248,300

Median gross rent

$971$1,219

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Knox County	Montgomery County
Under 5	5.5%	7.9%
5 to 17	15.5%	18.9%
18 to 24	11.9%	10.6%
25 to 34	13.8%	18.4%
35 to 44	12.8%	14.2%
45 to 54	12.1%	10.6%
55 to 64	12.2%	9.6%
65 to 74	9.7%	6.3%
75 and over	6.4%	3.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Knox County	Montgomery County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.6%	60.2%
Black or African American	8.0%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	2.2%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.3%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.5%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	6.1%	11.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Knox County	Montgomery County
No high school diploma	7.7%	5.7%
High school graduate	24.6%	27.3%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	35.4%
Bachelor's degree	24.4%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	15.7%	12.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Knox County	Montgomery County
Drove alone	76.8%	80.8%
Carpooled	7.2%	9.2%
Public transit	0.6%	0.5%
Walked	1.7%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	12.7%	7.1%
Other means	0.8%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Knox County	Montgomery County
1-unit, detached	65.9%	72.2%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	8.6%
5 to 19 units	11.7%	8.5%
20 or more units	7.9%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Knox County	Montgomery County
Poverty rate	12.2%	11.6%
Average household size	2.41	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	22	27
Median year structure built	1985	1997