Census-designated place · Knox County, Tennessee

Powell, Tennessee

Powell is a census-designated place in Knox County, Tennessee, part of the Knoxville, TN metro area. It has 13,739 residents. Powell, Tennessee has a quality-of-life score of 56 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,959 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Tennessee it ranks #25 of 305 cities and towns. It ranks best on mammography screening (high), effective property tax rate (low) and child poverty rate (low). It ranks worst on drug overdose deaths (high), depression (high) and injury deaths (high).

56Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,959 of 15,651 cities and towns
Tennessee: #25 of 305 in TN
Population: 13,739 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 1,608.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 4760480

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety27#11,390/15,637
Economy82#2,882/15,631
Housing62#5,715/14,977
Health22#12,230/15,609
Healthcare73#4,198/15,650
Environment63#5,695/15,453
Education50#7,781/15,649
Infrastructure63#5,727/15,650
Community29#11,071/15,651
Leisure & amenities64#5,571/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Powell, Tennessee ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Knox County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Mammography screening · high58.0%
97/100Tennessee 46.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKnox County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.37%
95/100Tennessee 0.52%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Child poverty rate · low2.4%
93/100Tennessee 18.4%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Flu vaccinations · high54.0%
90/100Tennessee 44.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKnox County value
Poverty rate · low4.1%
88/100Tennessee 13.3%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Primary care physicians · high109 /100k
87/100Tennessee 69 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKnox County value

Weaknesses

Drug overdose deaths · high46.5 /100k
2/100Tennessee 27.1 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataKnox County value
Depression · high32.1%
2/100Tennessee 29.0%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Injury deaths · high147 /100k
4/100Tennessee 122 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKnox County value
Time spent in the emergency room · high236 min
6/100Tennessee 168 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesKnox County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high104 mi
9/100Tennessee 93 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauKnox County value
Violent crime rate · high372 /100k
20/100Tennessee 492 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationKnox County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
40.6% (2016-2020) → 51.2% (2020-2024)
+11 pts4 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.1% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.7× (2016-2020) → 3.6× (2020-2024)
+36%4 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
87.5% (2016-2020) → 92.0% (2020-2024)
+4.6 pts4 yearsCensus table B28002US 85.2% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
26.8% (2016-2020) → 30.9% (2020-2024)
+4.1 pts4 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.6% → 30.6%
Poverty rateImproving
7.8% (2016-2020) → 4.1% (2020-2024)
−3.7 pts4 yearsCensus table B17001US 11.9% → 12.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
5.9% (2016-2020) → 2.4% (2020-2024)
−3.6 pts4 yearsCensus table B17001US 15.7% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

There is not enough history to compare Powell, Tennessee over five years.

Cities and towns like Powell, Tennessee five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Powell, Tennessee in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

No place that looked like Powell, Tennessee five years ago has more measures that improved than declined, with a higher standing among its peers today.

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

13,739 residents (±1,454)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

13,739 residents (±1,454)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

White84%11,521
Black1.4%†188
Hispanic or Latino10%†1,441

Education

8,749 residents (±842)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

No high school diploma8.4%†734
High school or GED32%2,831
Some college19%1,699

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

4,999 households (±466)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

Under $25k15%†728
$25k–50k16%†805
$50k–75k14%†692
$75k–100k16%†819
$100k–150k21%†1,064
$150k–200k12%†587
$200k or more6.1%†304

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

4,999 households (±466)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

Own79%3,946
Rent21%1,053

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

966 households (±232)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

Under $75025%†241
$750–1,00015%†143
$1,000–1,50023%†218

Home values

3,946 homes (±451)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

Under $150k12%†466
$150k–250k21%†843
$250k–400k44%1,735

Age of homes

5,283 homes (±444)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

2010 or later10%†550
2000–200925%1,319
1980–199937%1,933

Size of homes

5,283 homes (±444)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

Studio0.5%†25
1 bedroom5.8%†305
2 bedrooms23%1,221

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

7,163 workers (±842)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

Drive alone77%5,547
Carpool9.2%†660
Public transit0.3%†25
Walk0.7%†48
Bike0.0%0
Work from home12%†883
Other0.0%0

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

6,280 workers (±770)

Powell, Tennessee
Tennessee share

Under 15 min14%865
15–29 min57%3,575
30–44 min21%†1,306

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Knoxville, TN

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Knox County, the county holding most of Powell's residents.

Knox County has 12,519 employer establishments, 250 for every 10,000 residents (1.01× the US rate of 248; 1.19× Tennessee's), with 242,117 paid employees at an average annual pay of $56,286. The Census Bureau also counts 45,646 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 12,519; 45,646 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 250; US 248 · Tennessee 210
Paid employees: 242,117
Average annual pay: $56,286; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Knox County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	1,159	23.1	1.11×About typical	16,398	$67,793	2,233
Restaurants and other eating places	954	19	1.04×About typical	24,479	$22,322	154
Specialty trade contractors	685	13.7	0.88×About typical	9,522	$70,206	2,959
Lessors of real estate	578	11.5	0.94×About typical	3,293	$59,800	5,530
Limited-service restaurants	448	8.9	1.11×About typical	10,247	$18,796	60
Offices of physicians	432	8.6	1.33×More than typical	7,153	$90,065	571
Religious organizations	400	8	1.44×More than typical	4,936	$27,914	—
Full-service restaurants	383	7.6	0.99×About typical	11,910	$26,233	59
Services to buildings and dwellings	360	7.2	1.06×About typical	18,763	$32,091	2,833
Construction of buildings	341	6.8	0.90×About typical	2,699	$81,089	1,567
Offices of other health practitioners	312	6.2	1.02×About typical	1,896	$47,441	1,042
Building equipment contractors	292	5.8	0.97×About typical	4,890	$70,343	639

Rank places for an industry Open Knox County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 501,589 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Powell, Tennessee: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

1.9KFY2017
6.9KFY2018
-561.8FY2019
1.7KFY2020
1.3KFY2021
2.8KFY2022
6KFY2024

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Powell, Tennessee, so they do not add up across cities.

Powell, Tennessee's figures are part of those of Knox County, TN ($279M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Powell is mostly in Knox County.

See federal money in Knox County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Powell, Tennessee is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Tim BurchettR-TN-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 96%Missed 2.8%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Knox County64100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Knoxville, TN52

Other cities and towns in Knox County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

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