City safety & data profile

ChattanoogaTN

Chattanooga, TN is a 181K-resident city in Hamilton County with a median household income of $64,523.

Hamilton County, Tennessee. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Chattanooga, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Chattanooga has a population larger than 97% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $283,200, and 5 hospitals serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-03

181K
Population (place)
Top 3%
By size
$64,523
Median income (place)
$283,200
Median home (place)
19.1%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Chattanooga

Chattanooga posts a median household income higher than 29% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 5 hospitals serve the Chattanooga area.

Bottom 30%
by median income, US cities
5
hospitals in & near Chattanooga

Where Chattanooga income ranks nationally

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

$64,523 Bottom 29% higher than 29% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Chattanooga $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 Chattanooga, TN beyond the headline numbers

Chattanooga sits inside Hamilton County, Tennessee, at roughly 35.05°N, -85.31°W. Population 181,099, $64,523 median household income. Median home value $283,200, median rent $1,256. Poverty rate 19.1%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

5 hospitals in/around Chattanooga, 4.3/5 avg rating, 2 with an ER.

19.1% of Chattanooga, 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 Chattanooga runs about 4.4 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.

13.6% of Chattanooga workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, high blood pressure departs furthest from its peer median: 39% in Chattanooga, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Chattanooga 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)
181,099
Chattanooga · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$64,523
-28% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$283,200
-32% vs avg
Median Age (place)
36.3
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Hamilton County): Chattanooga'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
376K+10%
Median Income
$76,183+63%
Median Home Value
$312,800+103%
Poverty Rate
13.1%-21%
Unemployment
4.4%-54%

Economics

Economics indicators for Chattanooga, TN
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,256/mo
Poverty Rate
19.1% +54% vs avg
Unemployment 5.4%
Bachelor's Degree+ 36%
Work From Home 13.6%
Public Transit 0.9%

Population

White 57.5%
African American 27.8%
Asian 2.3%
Two or More Ethnicities 2.4%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
39.4%
High Blood Pressure
39%
Obesity
36.3%
Physical Inactivity
24.9%
Frequent Mental Distress
19.2%
Current Smoking
16.7%
Frequent Physical Distress
14.3%
Binge Drinking
14.2%
Diabetes
13.9%
Lack of Health Insurance
12.7%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 58.3%
Annual Checkup 77.7%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
11.6%
Coronary Heart Disease
6.6%
Stroke
3.9%

Hospitals 5 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
1
★★★★
2
★★★
0
★★
0
0
Average Rating
4.3/5
Total Hospitals
5
With ER
2
MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, INC
CHATTANOOGA · Acute Care Hospitals
★★★★★
ERLANGER MEDICAL CENTER
CHATTANOOGA · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★☆
PARKRIDGE MEDICAL CENTER
CHATTANOOGA · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Chattanooga?

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

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet TN-CHATTANOOGA · Chattanooga

Chattanooga: 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 Chattanooga; 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 Chattanooga, TN?
Chattanooga, TN has a population of 181,099 people, located in Hamilton County, Tennessee.
What is the median household income in Chattanooga?
The median household income in Chattanooga, TN is $64,523 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 19.1%.
What is the median home value in Chattanooga?
The median home value in Chattanooga, TN is $283,200. Median rent is $1,256/month.
What are the top health concerns in Chattanooga?
The top health indicators in Chattanooga include Short Sleep Duration (39.4%), High Blood Pressure (39%), Obesity (36.3%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Chattanooga?
Chattanooga has 5 hospitals with an average rating of 4.3/5 stars. 2 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Chattanooga?
The median age in Chattanooga, TN is 36.3 years. 36% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

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

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside TN (19.1% here).

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside TN ($64,523 here).

Compare Chattanooga 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 Chattanooga'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 Chattanooga 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 Chattanooga 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 (Hamilton 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.