Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Dayton grades C− overall, 106th of 175 graded towns in Tennessee, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. On the other side, residents are less healthy than 93% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $50K, and 22% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $260K, 4.7 years of the county’s $55K median household income. 39% of working residents work locally in Dayton, above both Tennessee’s towns (12%) and U.S. towns (8%). Dayton's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 95% of U.S. towns. Dayton is home to Bryan College-Dayton.
Where Dayton beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Bryan College-Dayton | 904 |
Where Dayton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Tennessee), ordered by how far Dayton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Rhea County Courthouse is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 173 in 1880, 7,065 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 4 maps from 1935 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dayton, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Dayton.
Dayton draws workers from Graysville and beyond, fares better on crime within Tennessee than nationally and is mostly renters.
7,827 jobs are based in Dayton, 2.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 3 of Dayton’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Dayton grew to 7,827 in 2023, 1,013 more than in 2013. Dayton’s average trip to work is 22 minutes.
| Dayton | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $50,000 | $61,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Dayton school district. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton City ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 891 | B |
| Rhea County Academy PrivateLargest high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 156 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TN on state tests
21% of Dayton adults smoke cigarettes. Dayton beats the Tennessee average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 12. 27% of Dayton adults say their health is fair or poor.
| Dayton | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 19% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 29% | 23% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 24% | 19% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 16% | 14% |
| What stands out | Dayton | TN |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 24.9% | 14.6% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 22.8% | 16.2% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 12% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
46% of households own their home in Dayton. The typical Dayton home is worth about $261,000, up 2.4% in a year, 21% below the Tennessee typical home. The median rent in Dayton is $848 a month.
| Dayton | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 46% | 66% | 73% |
| Median rent | $848 a month | $950 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Dayton has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 30° and about 2 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 62% of U.S. communities. Since 1990, 9 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Dayton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Only 45.6% of households own their home, against 66.9% across Tennessee.
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Tennessee average. Dayton has grown 5.8% since 2020, to 7,819 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 23% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 31% across Tennessee.
| Dayton | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 20% | 22% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 23% | 23% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 18% | 18% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.7 points. Across Tennessee, 50.9% of residents are women.
| Dayton | TN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.5% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 12.9% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.4% | 13.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.9% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.2% | 12.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.8% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.6% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 20.5% | 10% | 10.4% |
| High school | 37.9% | 31.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.5% | 19.9% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 4.6% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.6% | 19.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7% | 11.7% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At 20.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 63% of Tennessee’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 130 to 76 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
0.1 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Delaware Park, at 37 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Delaware Park | — | 37 |
| 2. Dayton Walking Track Sections 2 and 3 | — | 32 |
| 3. Washington Park | 0.1 mi | 15 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Dayton
About 8 of every 100 Dayton residents are enrolled in college, against 5 across Tennessee.
4 places in Dayton on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Dayton.
City in Tennessee, United States
Dayton is a city in and the county seat of Rhea County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 7,065. The Dayton Urban Cluster includes developed areas adjacent to the city and extends south to Graysville. Dayton was the site of the Scopes trial in 1925 dealing with the rejection of evolution by religious groups.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Dayton.
| Town | TN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | #106 | C− | B− | B− | B | D |
| Graysville | — | — | A | — | B | D− |
Graysville has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Graysville reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Dayton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dayton grades C− overall, better than 22% of U.S. towns and #106 of 175 in Tennessee. It grades D for health, B− for safety and B for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
8 notable people were born here, including Van Hilleary and Howard Armstrong.
