Chattanooga, TN population, income and ZIP codes

Chattanooga city is a mid-size city in Tennessee, with 182,832 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #4 of 504 ranked by population — larger than 99% of them. The median age here is 36.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in Chattanooga city earn a median of $61,028 a year, 22.3% below the national figure of $78,538 and 9% above the $55,988 median for the 307 Tennessee cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 17.6% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Chattanooga city is valued at $259,200, 14.6% below the national figure and 36% above the $191,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,155 a month, 17.9% below the national figure, or roughly $13,860 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 22.7% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 53.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.