Counties / Tennessee / Knox County

Knox County, TN

FIPS 47093 · population 494,148 · part of Knoxville, TN

$384k
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
$384k
▲ 1.1% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,768
▲ 0.2% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
5.5%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,471
market rent is 1.20x 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.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+77.0%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.1%FHFA HPI2025+2.9%
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$321k
Surveyed gross rent$1,261
Rent burden 30%+50.1%
Median year built1985
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
8.0%vacant
218,661estimated housing units
Occupied tenure34.8% renter
owner 65.2%renter 34.8%
Structure mix71.4% single-family
Single-family 71.4%20+ units 8.3%Mobile home 3.6%Other 16.7%
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 jobs262,423▲ 0.8% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments16,232annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,294▲ 3.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities25.1% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.8%WEEKLY WAGE+3.4%Trade, transportation, and utilities25.1%
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

Knox County is a current-income-versus-durability screen for buyers who can validate unit economics and flood exposure, rather than a broad price-growth call. Zillow's 2026-06 county observation reports a $383,827 median home value and $1,768 monthly median asking rent, producing the supplied 5.53% gross yield before operating costs. This is measured market asking rent; the yield is not net income and cannot establish cash flow without financing, insurance, repairs, vacancy, and property-specific expenses.

02Housing economics

HUD's two-bedroom FMR is $1,471 and is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate; it must not replace the Zillow rent in underwriting. The effective property-tax rate is 0.43%, a recurring carrying-cost input against the stated gross yield, although parcel variation is not shown. FHFA's 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 2.95% in its annual reading. It supports positive indexed appreciation under a different method and vintage, but it is neither a dollar home value nor a rate to average with Zillow's observation.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com's MLS listing-market evidence shows 1,679 active listings and 22.78% with price reductions. Those are visible supply and seller-concession signals, not closed-sale prices or independent proof of buyer demand. Net tax-return migration was 1,518 households, while average income of inbound movers exceeded outbound movers by $5,486; that composition is supportive context but does not identify renter demand or neighborhood location. Investor purchases were 657 of 6,720 total purchases, a 9.78% share: a defined competing buyer cohort, not proof of investor dominance. QCEW describes covered jobs at county workplaces and covered-worker wages, not resident employment, tenant income, or a forecast.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled annual climate loss equals 0.11% of building value, and inland flood is the dominant hazard; this is a modeled loss ratio, not a parcel flood determination or a dollar loss. Cautious buyers should obtain parcel flood zone, elevation, insurance quotes, and loss history. Rent roll, vacancy, turnover, operating expenses, financing terms, and closed-sale comparables are not published here; their absence prevents a net-yield, debt-coverage, sale-value, or property-specific flood-cost conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Knox 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
Knoxville city195.2KFarragut town*24.6KPowell CDP13.7KHalls CDP10.3KKarns CDP4.1KMascot CDP3.3KJohn Sevier CDP1.2K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

7 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Knoxville cityIncorporated place
    195,185
  2. 02
    Farragut townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    24,634
  3. 03
    Powell CDPCensus-designated place
    13,739
  4. 04
    Halls CDPCensus-designated place
    10,272
  5. 05
    Karns CDPCensus-designated place
    4,115
  6. 06
    Mascot CDPCensus-designated place
    3,277
  7. 07
    John Sevier CDPCensus-designated place
    1,177

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

0.112% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.43%

$1,367 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+1,518

14,608 in · 13,090 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$5,486

$72,182 arriving · $66,696 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors9.8%

657 of 6,720 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 listings1,679▲ 5.5% year over year
Median days on market52▲ 8.9% year over year
Listings price-reduced22.8%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 2.3% 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 Knoxville, 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
Knox County494,148$384k$1,7685.5%inland flooding
Blount County139,333$399k$1,8685.6%inland flooding
Anderson County79,153$320k$1,6446.2%inland flooding
Loudon County58,580$455k$1,7774.7%inland flooding
Roane County55,208$304k$1,3625.4%inland flooding
Campbell County39,761$248kn/an/ainland flooding
Grainger County24,266$286kn/an/ainland flooding
Morgan County21,361$221kn/an/ainland flooding
Union County20,431$299kn/an/ainland flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Parcel-specific inland-flood insurance or mitigation costs could overwhelm gross yield.
  2. Unpublished operating, vacancy, and financing data could turn a gross-yield screen into weak net cash flow.
  3. MLS concessions and visible supply could make resale liquidity weaker than county value indicators suggest.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Does the record distinguish market rent from HUD FMR?

Yes. It provides median asking market rent separately and identifies HUD FMR as a payment standard rather than an asking-rent estimate.

Does the record quantify investor participation?

Yes. It provides investor purchases, total purchases, and the resulting investor share.

Can this record establish property-level flood cost or net cash flow?

No. It lacks parcel flood details, insurance quotes, operating expenses, vacancy, financing terms, and rent-roll evidence.