AreaProfile

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Area Profile

185,783 residents. Jobs, income, climate, physical risk, development and airport access for Chattanooga, in Hamilton County.

This profile has not yet met the AreaProfile publication threshold, so it is not offered to search engines. Everything shown below is real measured data; some sections are incomplete.

63
Area Score
Top 42% of 133 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 28% of 139 published cities65
GrowthTop 23% of 134 published cities65
Housing affordabilityTop 42% of 150 published cities72
ClimateTop 40% of 149 published cities73
Physical resilienceTop 46% of 150 published cities58
Access147th of 149 published cities48
Economic stability114th of 150 published cities45
The quick read

Its Area Score of 63 places Chattanooga in the top 42% of published city profiles.

At a glance

Population
185,783
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$64,523
Bottom 46% nationally
Density
1,305/sq mi
142.4 sq mi of land
Median age
36.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Hamilton County
Tennessee
Metro area
Chattanooga, TN-GA
Nearest major airport
TYS
87 mi · Mc Ghee Tyson
Median home value
$283,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.0% is lower than 78% of the 140 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.4% over the past year, to 95,653 employed residents.

36% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 77% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$1,964$64,523Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,362$41,600Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.1%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute20.1 minBottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher36.0%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment95,653Bottom 13%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.9%Top 15%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.4%Bottom 40%June 2026
Labor force99,607Bottom 12%June 2026
Labor force participation64.6%Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$58,680Bottom 8%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$46,700Bottom 17%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 42%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.0%Bottom 22%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032026/012026/067.02.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.0% in June 2026.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202465k50k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $64,523 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Chattanooga, TN-GA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators8,120$45,330
Fast Food and Counter Workers7,770$27,140
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand7,730$37,830
Retail Salespersons7,020$31,460
Registered Nurses6,460$79,770
Cashiers5,530$28,440

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,256 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
23.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,256
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$283,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.39Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate52.4%Bottom 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±91787,970Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$33$1,256Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,317$283,200Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.4%Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.1%Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
65/ 100
Top 23% of 134 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 5% since 2020, reaching 191,496 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

At 5.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
993
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.4
Top 37% nationally
Year over year
+3%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
22.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024191k182k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020222023202420251k979
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−6%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 32°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 55.0 inches, including 3.6 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHATTANOOGA LOVELL AP, 3.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation55.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall3.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing39°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

58 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and earthquake.

TornadoModerate
EarthquakeElevated
LandslideModerate
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
Winter weatherModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, ice storm, cold wave, hail, heat wave, wildfire, hurricane, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Taxes

AreaProfile does not yet publish tax comparisons. No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, methodology transparency and update cadence, and the product rule is to omit a dimension rather than estimate it. The Area Score is calculated without a tax component and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Nothing on AreaProfile is individualized tax advice.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 87 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Mc Ghee TysonTYS87 mi10,000 ft
Huntsville Intl-Carl T Jones FldHSV91 mi10,001 ft
SmyrnaMQY97 mi8,038 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
63
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)

Profile recalculated August 29, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Chattanooga

5 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3742152,985$82,51766
3734345,101$82,22768
3741524,181$70,97266
3741118,997$56,57962
3740518,109$81,33761