Moving to
Middle Valley.

All Middle Valley data Compare Middle Valley

12,187people live here $95,000median household income▲ 18% above US $1,180median rent per month▼ 16% below US $319,400median home valueNear US average

Middle Valley is an unincorporated community in Hamilton County, TN. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Middle Valley

Middle Valley is an unincorporated community in Tennessee with rent below the national average, county unemployment below the national average, household incomes running above the national average, and schools with class sizes near the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Middle Valley deals with air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, above-average rainfall, fewer dining and entertainment options than a bigger city, and a car-dependent commute, with few people using transit.

The good

Rent below the national average
Low unemployment in the county
Higher-than-average incomes
Average class sizes

The not so good

Air quality concerns
Above-average rainfall
Smaller place — fewer dining and entertainment options
Car-dependent — few commuters use transit

How Middle Valley compares

Median household income

Middle Valley$95,000

Tennessee avg$69,595

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Middle Valley$1,180

Tennessee avg$1,189

US$1,413

Median home value

Middle Valley$319,400

Tennessee avg$286,700

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Middle Valley

Based on Middle Valley's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$2,360

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $47,200 a year
18% of Middle Valley renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$63,880

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $31,940
Homes cost 3.4× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▼ 16% below US

$1,180/mo median rent

Cost of living works in this city's favor. Median rent sits around $1,180 a month, nothing that raises eyebrows. Solid value overall. Home prices are reasonable, with a median around $319,400. Not a steal, but not intimidating either.

Median home value $319,400 · 18% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

3.3% county unemployment

Unemployment in Hamilton County is 3.3%, a little below the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Hamilton County (county-wide)

Safety

194 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Middle Valley doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 442/100k · Policed by Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting aroundNear US average

24 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 24.4 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 19% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

77%

Work from home

19%

Carpool

3.3%

Other

0.5%

Walk

0.4%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 89°F, and winters are chilly but manageable, with lows around 34°F. Rainfall is regular throughout the year.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 14% below US

31% bachelor's degree or higher

Education levels run about average, with 31% college-educated. It's a mix of white-collar and blue-collar work, which can be an asset or a limitation depending on the field.

Schools

3 public schools inside the boundary

There are 3 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 17:1, slightly above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park (18 miles away). There are 8 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Middle Valley's strongest points are rent below the national average and county unemployment below the national average; the main tradeoffs are air quality that falls short of national benchmarks and above-average rainfall. A year of median rent ($1,180/mo) equals 15% of the median household income here, less than the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit people watching their budget, job seekers (county-wide unemployment is low), and remote workers (19% of workers here already work from home).

See all the data for Middle Valley →·All Tennessee cities →