Kingsport, TN
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Kingsport ranks 240th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 262nd for income. A household earns $62,096 a year while median rent runs $917/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 14% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (15th of 300), while education is the soft spot (269th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 19th and home prices 74th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Kingsport, your take-home is worth about $70,926 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 262nd of 300↑27.7%$62,096
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 15th of 30086 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $71,831
- Per-capita income
- $35,010
- Full-time pay
- $40,910
Housing
- Median rent
- 19th of 300↑38.7%$917/mo
- Home value
- 74th of 300↑59%$237,300
- Property tax
- $1,147/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 9.56%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 99th of 3003.9%
- Bachelor's+
- 269th of 30023.6%
- Avg commute
- 118th of 30023.4 min
People
- Population
- 314,259
- Population change
- +2.1%
- Median age
- 45.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 2%
- Broadband
- 90.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 63rd of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 240th of 30022.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 11.2%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — bristol ap.
What jobs pay in Kingsport
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $352,590
- Pharmacists
- $133,270
- Financial managers
- $132,280
- IT managers
- $130,830
- Software developers
- $115,310
- Lawyers
- $107,560
- General & operations managers
- $97,450
- Civil engineers
- $87,510
- Registered nurses
- $76,730
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,940
- Web developers
- $75,670
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,990
- Electricians
- $60,070
- Plumbers
- $59,360
- Elementary school teachers
- $58,130
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $54,700
- Police officers
- $48,620
- Carpenters
- $48,340
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,520
- Construction laborers
- $45,370
- Customer service reps
- $36,130
- Retail salespersons
- $31,200
- Janitors
- $31,070
- Waiters & waitresses
- $28,210
- Cashiers
- $27,420
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Kingsport metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Tennessee are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Florida920
- North Carolina734
- Pennsylvania288
- Ohio245
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Kingsport
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Kingsport metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Kingsport metro?
- Median gross rent across the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area is $917 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Kingsport.
- What is the median household income in the Kingsport metro?
- A typical household in the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area earns $62,096 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Kingsport expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area runs about 14% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Kingsport metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $71,831 (versus its face value of $62,096). CityLedger rates the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Kingsport metro?
- The median home value across the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area is $237,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Kingsport metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Metro Area is 3.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).