Rutherford County vs Sumner County

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

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

Rutherford County has the higher population (351,591 vs 200,553 in Sumner County). Sumner County has the higher median household income ($86,005 vs $82,588 in Rutherford County). Sumner County has the higher median home value ($364,000 vs $346,400 in Rutherford County).

Population, income & housing

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
Population	351,591	200,553
Median age	34.0 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$82,588	$86,005
Median home value	$346,400	$364,000
Median gross rent	$1,405	$1,339
Housing units	135,336	81,376
Homeownership rate	65.0%	72.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.4%	32.6%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
Population	315,815 → 351,591 (+11.3%)	183,437 → 200,553 (+9.3%)
Median household income	$67,429 → $82,588 (+22.5%)	$67,204 → $86,005 (+28.0%)
Median home value	$213,200 → $346,400 (+62.5%)	$234,200 → $364,000 (+55.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,063 → $1,405 (+32.2%)	$1,026 → $1,339 (+30.5%)

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

Sumner County

Population

183,437200,553

Median household income

$67,204$86,005

Median home value

$234,200$364,000

Median gross rent

$1,026$1,339

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
Under 5	6.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	18.5%	17.5%
18 to 24	11.7%	7.6%
25 to 34	14.7%	12.7%
35 to 44	14.4%	13.5%
45 to 54	12.8%	13.4%
55 to 64	10.8%	13.2%
65 to 74	6.9%	9.9%
75 and over	4.0%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
White (non-Hispanic)	64.8%	79.5%
Black or African American	14.9%	8.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.5%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.6%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	11.6%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
No high school diploma	7.6%	8.2%
High school graduate	28.1%	29.0%
Some college or associate's	29.9%	30.2%
Bachelor's degree	23.4%	22.0%
Graduate or professional degree	10.9%	10.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
Drove alone	75.0%	76.1%
Carpooled	10.0%	7.5%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	0.9%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.0%	14.4%
Other means	0.7%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
1-unit, detached	67.4%	73.2%
1-unit, attached	7.2%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	11.6%	7.3%
20 or more units	6.8%	6.2%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	6.0%

Poverty & households

	Rutherford County	Sumner County
Poverty rate	9.2%	9.0%
Average household size	2.76	2.59
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	2000	1994