City safety & data profile

AthensTN

Athens, TN is a 14K-resident city in McMinn County with a median household income of $53,929.

McMinn County, Tennessee. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Athens, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Athens has a population larger than 21% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $225,000, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-04

14K
Population (place)
Bottom 22%
By size
$53,929
Median income (place)
$225,000
Median home (place)
17%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Athens

Athens posts a median household income higher than 14% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Athens area.

Bottom 15%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Athens

Where Athens income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$53,929 Bottom 14% higher than 14% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Athens $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in TN

Population among 58 TN places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Memphis is the largest TN city on this list; Brentwood leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in TN

Median household income among the same 58-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Brentwood posts the highest place-level median income in TN; Memphis is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Athens, TN beyond the headline numbers

Athens sits inside McMinn County, Tennessee, at roughly 35.44°N, -84.59°W. Population 13,688, $53,929 median household income. Median home value $225,000, median rent $846. Poverty rate 17%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

1 hospital in/around Athens, 3/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.

17% of Athens, TN residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

A median home in Athens runs about 4.2 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.

Only 4.9% of Athens workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.

Among the CDC measures on this page, obesity departs furthest from its peer median: 46.5% in Athens, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Public transit carries 0% of Athens workers, a smaller share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Athens from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
13,688
Athens · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$53,929
-40% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$225,000
-46% vs avg
Median Age (place)
39
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (McMinn County): Athens's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
55K+5%
Median Income
$61,470+56%
Median Home Value
$211,800+78%
Poverty Rate
13%-29%
Unemployment
4.8%-53%

Economics

Economics indicators for Athens, TN
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$846/mo
Poverty Rate
17% +37% vs avg
Unemployment 6.2%
Bachelor's Degree+ 23.2%
Work From Home 4.9%
Public Transit 0%

Population

White 80.6%
African American 6.6%
Asian 1.2%
Two or More Ethnicities 3.9%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Obesity
46.5%
High Blood Pressure
41.7%
Short Sleep Duration
40.2%
Physical Inactivity
31.1%
Frequent Mental Distress
21.2%
Current Smoking
19.9%
Frequent Physical Distress
17%
Diabetes
15.2%
Lack of Health Insurance
13.7%
Binge Drinking
13.2%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 53.8%
Annual Checkup 77.7%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
11.4%
Coronary Heart Disease
8%
Stroke
4.3%

Hospitals 1 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
0
★★★
1
★★
0
0
Average Rating
3/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
STARR REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER ATHENS
ATHENS · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★☆☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Athens?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Athens right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet TN-ATHENS-TN · Athens

Athens: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.

  • FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
  • LEAD-NONE Feed idle
  • DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Athens; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Tennessee state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Athens, TN?
Athens, TN has a population of 13,688 people, located in McMinn County, Tennessee.
What is the median household income in Athens?
The median household income in Athens, TN is $53,929 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 17%.
What is the median home value in Athens?
The median home value in Athens, TN is $225,000. Median rent is $846/month.
What are the top health concerns in Athens?
The top health indicators in Athens include Obesity (46.5%), High Blood Pressure (41.7%), Short Sleep Duration (40.2%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Athens?
Athens has 1 hospital with an average rating of 3/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Athens?
The median age in Athens, TN is 39 years. 23.2% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Athens, both outside Tennessee so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside TN (17% here).

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside TN ($53,929 here).

Compare Athens with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Using Athens's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Athens area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Athens against Tennessee peers on any ranking lens. Explore Tennessee

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (McMinn County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.