Knox County vs Rutherford County

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

Knox County and Rutherford 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 351,591 in Rutherford County). Rutherford County has the higher median household income ($82,588 vs $71,662 in Knox County). Rutherford County has the higher median home value ($346,400 vs $279,700 in Knox County).

Population, income & housing

	Knox County	Rutherford County
Population	487,401	351,591
Median age	37.3 yrs	34.0 yrs
Median household income	$71,662	$82,588
Median home value	$279,700	$346,400
Median gross rent	$1,180	$1,405
Housing units	214,606	135,336
Homeownership rate	64.9%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.2%	34.4%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Knox County	Rutherford County
Population	461,104 → 487,401 (+5.7%)	315,815 → 351,591 (+11.3%)
Median household income	$57,470 → $71,662 (+24.7%)	$67,429 → $82,588 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$183,200 → $279,700 (+52.7%)	$213,200 → $346,400 (+62.5%)
Median gross rent	$892 → $1,180 (+32.3%)	$1,063 → $1,405 (+32.2%)

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

Rutherford County

Population

315,815351,591

Median household income

$67,429$82,588

Median home value

$213,200$346,400

Median gross rent

$1,063$1,405

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Knox County	Rutherford County
Under 5	5.5%	6.3%
5 to 17	15.5%	18.5%
18 to 24	11.9%	11.7%
25 to 34	13.8%	14.7%
35 to 44	12.8%	14.4%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.8%
55 to 64	12.2%	10.8%
65 to 74	9.7%	6.9%
75 and over	6.4%	4.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Knox County	Rutherford County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.6%	64.8%
Black or African American	8.0%	14.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.2%	3.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	6.1%	11.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Knox County	Rutherford County
No high school diploma	7.7%	7.6%
High school graduate	24.6%	28.1%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	29.9%
Bachelor's degree	24.4%	23.4%
Graduate or professional degree	15.7%	10.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Knox County	Rutherford County
Drove alone	76.8%	75.0%
Carpooled	7.2%	10.0%
Public transit	0.6%	0.3%
Walked	1.7%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	12.7%	13.0%
Other means	0.8%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Knox County	Rutherford County
1-unit, detached	65.9%	67.4%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	7.2%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	11.7%	11.6%
20 or more units	7.9%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Knox County	Rutherford County
Poverty rate	12.2%	9.2%
Average household size	2.41	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1985	2000