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Place dossier plate
SheetTN-CHARLESTON-TN · Charleston, TN 816 pop · income 53rd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Charleston
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Charleston on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Blairsville · lowest
24,167
Blairsville · lowest
24,167 median HH income
29.2% of the leader · rank #1
Mohnton · near
72,198
Mohnton · near
72,198 median HH income
87.3% of the leader · rank #2
Charleston · this city
72,208
Charleston · this city
72,208 median HH income
87.3% of the leader · rank #3
Oelrichs · near
72,212
Oelrichs · near
72,212 median HH income
87.3% of the leader · rank #4
Sappington · near
72,213
Sappington · near
72,213 median HH income
87.3% of the leader · rank #5
Chelsea · near
72,220
Chelsea · near
72,220 median HH income
87.3% of the leader · rank #6
Summertown · highest
82,695
Summertown · highest
82,695 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Charleston on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 816.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Charleston - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Charleston places in the 53rd percentile for household income and the 51st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
53rd
percentile, household income
38th
percentile, home value
34th
percentile, median rent
51st
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Charleston, TN
816 people live in Charleston, Tennessee - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $72,208 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.5%. Home values in Charleston run a median of $185,000, and the median resident age is 48.6 years. About 9.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Charleston reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1331.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Tennessee run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Tennessee at 91.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,118 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Tennessee run around $218, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 25.3 minutes, with 87.4% driving alone and 2.8% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 52.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Charleston's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Charleston, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Charleston growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +45 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.1% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Charleston?
Within Tennessee, the closest population matches are Morrison (810 residents, $34,236 income); Mooresburg (829 residents, $36,875 income); Crab Orchard (834 residents, $44,708 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Holly Pond, AL (816 residents); Klamath, CA (816 residents); Blairsville, GA (816 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the journey to work look like in Charleston?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 25.3 minutes.
What does the education layer cover for Charleston?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 9.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Charleston?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1331.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 42% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
887.9
Violent rate
444.0
Total reported rate
1331.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Charleston?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$72,208
Home value
$185,000
Value / income
2.6×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A-
2.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living B+
91.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income C-
$72,208
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
444 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
9.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Charleston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 82/100 (A-) · 2.5%
Cost of living: 78/100 (B+) · 91.9 index
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,208
Violent crime: 19/100 (F) · 444 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 5/100 (F) · 9.6%
Where Charleston sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Charleston's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Charleston highlighted among 22 peers.Read the chart values
Charleston, TN (this city): home $185,000, crime 1,332/100k
Blairsville, GA : home $174,300, crime 1,765/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Charleston compare to other US cities?
Here's how Charleston stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income53% higher than other cities
Home value38% pricier than other cities
Median rent34% pricier than other cities
Safety51% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Tennessee, Charleston ranks #76 of 174 Tennessee cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Charleston against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Tennessee only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Tennessee-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Charleston near the bottom of Tennessee's cities
Among the 482 Tennessee cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Charleston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Charleston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#118 of 458
74th percentile in Tennessee
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 482
0th percentile in Tennessee
Median Home Value
#214 of 455
53rd percentile in Tennessee
Poverty Rate
#399 of 482
17th percentile in Tennessee
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#387 of 482
19th percentile in Tennessee
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Tennessee only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
53rd percentile nationally for median household income · 51st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Charleston's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Charleston's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Charleston's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$185,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. 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 ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Charleston's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,329 of 15,516
More affordable than 72% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,876 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.6×, Charleston sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,329 of 15,516 and #3,876 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$72,208Charleston, TN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Charleston, TN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Charleston, TN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
816
Median Income
$72,208
Median Home Value
$185,000
Median Age
48.6
Poverty Rate
2.5%
Labor force participation
60.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1331.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
444.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
887.9
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Charleston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
878 residents
2021
888 residents
2022
894 residents
2023
903 residents
2024
915 residents
2025
923 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
25.3 minutes
Drive Alone
87.4%
Carpool
9.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
2.8%
Based on 422 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Tennessee statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $218
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Tennessee at $218 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $40 ).
These are Tennessee statewide averages, not a meter reading for Charleston. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Tennessee's BEA cost-of-living index is 91.9 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Charleston is $1,118/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Tennessee statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 52.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Tennessee statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Charleston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Charleston compares to similar-size Tennessee cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.