Shelby County vs Williamson County

A side-by-side comparison of Shelby County and Williamson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Shelby County has the higher population (922,195 vs 254,609 in Williamson County). Williamson County has the higher median household income ($131,202 vs $62,337 in Shelby County). Williamson County has the higher median home value ($673,700 vs $229,700 in Shelby County).

Population, income & housing

	Shelby County	Williamson County
Population	922,195	254,609
Median age	35.8 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$62,337	$131,202
Median home value	$229,700	$673,700
Median gross rent	$1,170	$1,895
Housing units	403,144	94,418
Homeownership rate	54.6%	79.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.2%	61.8%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	2.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Shelby County	Williamson County
Population	936,374 → 922,195 (-1.5%)	225,389 → 254,609 (+13.0%)
Median household income	$51,657 → $62,337 (+20.7%)	$112,962 → $131,202 (+16.1%)
Median home value	$150,400 → $229,700 (+52.7%)	$449,000 → $673,700 (+50.0%)
Median gross rent	$942 → $1,170 (+24.2%)	$1,500 → $1,895 (+26.3%)

Shelby County

Population

936,374922,195

Median household income

$51,657$62,337

Median home value

$150,400$229,700

Median gross rent

$942$1,170

Williamson County

Population

225,389254,609

Median household income

$112,962$131,202

Median home value

$449,000$673,700

Median gross rent

$1,500$1,895

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Shelby County	Williamson County
Under 5	6.9%	5.4%
5 to 17	18.6%	20.8%
18 to 24	8.7%	7.9%
25 to 34	14.8%	8.9%
35 to 44	12.8%	14.7%
45 to 54	11.9%	15.1%
55 to 64	12.0%	12.8%
65 to 74	9.1%	8.9%
75 and over	5.3%	5.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Shelby County	Williamson County
White (non-Hispanic)	33.3%	81.5%
Black or African American	52.6%	3.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.8%	5.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.4%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	8.5%	5.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Shelby County	Williamson County
No high school diploma	10.2%	4.1%
High school graduate	27.4%	13.2%
Some college or associate's	28.2%	20.9%
Bachelor's degree	20.1%	38.3%
Graduate or professional degree	14.1%	23.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Shelby County	Williamson County
Drove alone	78.3%	66.9%
Carpooled	9.1%	5.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	1.3%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.4%	25.8%
Other means	1.2%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Shelby County	Williamson County
1-unit, detached	66.6%	78.1%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	5.3%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	14.1%	5.4%
20 or more units	6.8%	7.2%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Shelby County	Williamson County
Poverty rate	17.5%	4.5%
Average household size	2.52	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1977	2001