Polk County vs Unicoi County

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

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

Unicoi County has the higher population (17,779 vs 17,702 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($60,227 vs $50,381 in Unicoi County). Unicoi County has the higher median home value ($168,200 vs $136,400 in Polk County).

Population, income & housing

	Polk County	Unicoi County
Population	17,702	17,779
Median age	46.2 yrs	47.4 yrs
Median household income	$60,227	$50,381
Median home value	$136,400	$168,200
Median gross rent	$668	$665
Housing units	8,856	8,740
Homeownership rate	84.1%	72.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.7%	20.0%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Polk County	Unicoi County
Population	16,814 → 17,702 (+5.3%)	17,811 → 17,779 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$43,306 → $60,227 (+39.1%)	$41,890 → $50,381 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$112,700 → $136,400 (+21.0%)	$129,500 → $168,200 (+29.9%)
Median gross rent	$688 → $668 (-2.9%)	$630 → $665 (+5.6%)

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

Unicoi County

Population

17,81117,779

Median household income

$41,890$50,381

Median home value

$129,500$168,200

Median gross rent

$630$665

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Polk County	Unicoi County
Under 5	4.6%	4.7%
5 to 17	14.5%	13.6%
18 to 24	7.2%	7.7%
25 to 34	10.9%	10.7%
35 to 44	11.2%	11.6%
45 to 54	15.0%	13.1%
55 to 64	15.8%	15.6%
65 to 74	12.4%	13.7%
75 and over	8.3%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Polk County	Unicoi County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.4%	90.6%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	0.3%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.1%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.1%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Polk County	Unicoi County
No high school diploma	14.3%	12.0%
High school graduate	38.0%	37.6%
Some college or associate's	33.0%	30.4%
Bachelor's degree	9.2%	12.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Polk County	Unicoi County
Drove alone	80.4%	81.1%
Carpooled	9.4%	7.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.0%	7.3%
Other means	0.5%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Polk County	Unicoi County
1-unit, detached	69.1%	69.2%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	4.5%
20 or more units	0.1%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	25.8%	18.2%

Poverty & households

	Polk County	Unicoi County
Poverty rate	13.3%	14.2%
Average household size	2.45	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	31	26
Median year structure built	1991	1976