Counties / Tennessee / Hamilton County

Hamilton County, TN

FIPS 47065 · population 376,192 · part of Chattanooga, TN

$358k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$358k
▼ 0.6% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,528
▲ 1.6% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.1%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,390
market rent is 1.10x the standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+63.3%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−0.6%FHFA HPI2025+1.8%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$313k
Surveyed gross rent$1,253
Rent burden 30%+45.2%
Median year built1982
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
8.2%vacant
168,013estimated housing units
Occupied tenure36.1% renter
owner 63.9%renter 36.1%
Structure mix72.0% single-family
Single-family 72.0%20+ units 9.6%Mobile home 3.1%Other 15.3%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs219,675▼ 0.7% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments12,618annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,332▲ 5.0% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities21.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.7%WEEKLY WAGE+5.0%Trade, transportation, and utilities21.7%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Hamilton County has a split county-level screen: Zillow’s 2026-06 series reports a $357,820 median home value, down 0.60% year over year, while median asking rent was $1,528 per month, up 1.56%, with a reported 5.12% gross yield before costs. The tension merits property-level review by income-focused buyers; underwriting that depends on rapid appreciation or tight supply warrants caution.

02Housing economics

The published market rent is a measured asking-rent figure, whereas HUD’s $1,390 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate. The reported yield therefore cannot be replaced with an FMR-based yield. A 0.62% effective property-tax rate and $1,925 median annual tax add a carrying-cost check; neither median necessarily describes the same property, and gross yield excludes expenses not published here.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence points to looser visible listing conditions, not completed-sale outcomes: median listing price was down 4.56%, active listings were up 32.27%, median marketing time was 58 days, and 23.87% of listings had price reductions. Tax-return migration was net inbound and incoming movers had higher average AGI than outgoing movers, but this is not renter demand. The reported investor share was 12.16% of 5,031 purchases, indicating buyer participation rather than proof of investor control or cash-buyer activity.

04Risk & next checks

FHFA’s annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 1.76% and its five-year cumulative change was 63.32%; those index readings neither value homes in dollars nor share Zillow’s value methodology or observation period, so they should not be averaged. QCEW annual data show declining covered employment at county workplaces while average weekly wage increased; Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with a modeled annual building-value loss ratio of 0.15%. Parcel flood zone, insurance, mitigation, operating expenses, vacancy, property condition, neighborhood rent, and closed-sale evidence are not published; their absence prevents net-yield, hazard-cost, and exit-value underwriting.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Hamilton County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Chattanooga city185.8KEast Ridge city22.1KSoddy-Daisy city13.2KMiddle Valley CDP12.2KRed Bank city12KCollegedale city11.3KSignal Mountain town8.9KHarrison CDP8K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

19 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Chattanooga cityIncorporated place
    185,783
  2. 02
    East Ridge cityIncorporated place
    22,070
  3. 03
    Soddy-Daisy cityIncorporated place
    13,231
  4. 04
    Middle Valley CDPCensus-designated place
    12,187
  5. 05
    Red Bank cityIncorporated place
    12,010
  6. 06
    Collegedale cityIncorporated place
    11,330
  7. 07
    Signal Mountain townIncorporated place
    8,860
  8. 08
    Harrison CDPCensus-designated place
    8,011
  9. 09
    Apison CDPCensus-designated place
    4,271
  10. 10
    Sale Creek CDPCensus-designated place
    2,955
  11. 11
    Falling Water CDPCensus-designated place
    2,315
  12. 12
    Lakesite cityIncorporated place
    2,168
Show 7 more places
  1. 13
    Lookout Mountain townIncorporated place
    2,111
  2. 14
    Fairmount CDPCensus-designated place
    2,110
  3. 15
    Walden townIncorporated place
    1,845
  4. 16
    Mowbray Mountain CDPCensus-designated place
    1,721
  5. 17
    Flat Top Mountain CDPCensus-designated place
    1,004
  6. 18
    Ridgeside cityIncorporated place
    879
  7. 19
    Ooltewah CDPCensus-designated place
    578

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.148% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.61%

$1,925 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+1,852

10,765 in · 8,913 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$7,596

$76,172 arriving · $68,576 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors12.2%

612 of 5,031 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings2,003▲ 32.3% year over year
Median days on market58▲ 10.5% year over year
Listings price-reduced23.9%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 4.6% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Same metro

The other counties in Chattanooga, TN

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Hamilton County376,192$358k$1,5285.1%inland flooding
Walker County68,762$246k$1,3626.6%inland flooding
Catoosa County68,634$296k$1,4866.0%inland flooding
Marion County29,250$267kn/an/ainland flooding
Sequatchie County16,809$293k$1,2004.9%inland flooding
Dade County16,165$258kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Unpublished flood insurance and mitigation costs could erode the reported pre-cost yield.
  2. Visible MLS softening may not predict pricing or liquidity for the target property segment.
  3. County-level migration, workplace employment, and investor data may not describe a specific neighborhood.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Is the published rent an asking-rent measure or a HUD payment standard?

It is median asking rent; the separately published two-bedroom HUD FMR is a payment standard.

What does the QCEW employment series measure?

Annual covered jobs located at county workplaces; it is not resident employment or unemployment.

Which private supersector is the largest disclosed?

Trade, transportation, and utilities; this disclosure does not represent the entire county economy.