KarnsTN
4,115 people call this town in Tennessee home.
Is Karns a good place to live?
Plenty in its favour, and one clear drawback. Incomes are its strong suit (B+): the median household earns $100K. Add schools to its strengths (B+): its schools outperform nearly two thirds of the state's. A typical home there costs about $329K, 4.5 years of the Knoxville metro’s $72K median household income. The trade-off is walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. Overall, that makes a B, better than 59% of U.S. towns. In the ranking it comes 37th of 175 in Tennessee.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow.
How Karns grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Tennessee), ordered by how far Karns is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Dollywood and 30 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Karns. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi Theme parkDollywood3.1M visitors a year
Big draw10 mi Stadium & arenaNeyland Stadium
Big draw23 mi National ParkGreat Smoky Mountains National Park11.5M visitors a year
11 mi LookoutSunsphere
11 mi Stadium & arenaThompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center
33 mi MuseumAlcatraz EastPhoto credits
Dollywood: Brian Stansberry (photographer), CC BY 2.5 · Neyland Stadium: Neomrbungle, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Scott Basford, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Sunsphere: Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center: TN 66, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Alcatraz East: EricaLewHouse, CC BY-SA 4.0
Moving to Karns: who provides what
Karns is unincorporated, so Knox County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Karns.
Karns trades workers with Knoxville and other neighbors and looks healthier within Tennessee than nationally.
Public schools in Karns beat 66% of Tennessee districts
The public schools here belong to the Knox County school district. The largest public high school is Karns High School, with 1,365 students. Of its 5 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karns ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 931 | B− |
| Karns High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,365 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TN on state tests and graduation
The biggest natural risk in Karns is inland flooding, at a low overall level
The natural-hazard score from FEMA for Karns comes to 32 of 100. FEMA puts 47% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 20% to tornadoes. Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 68% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mild winters and pleasant summers in Karns
In July, afternoons reach 88°; in January, nights fall to 29°, and about 4 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About two in five of Karns’ working residents commute to Knoxville
Karns has about as many jobs (1,531) as working residents, but only 19 people both live and work here.
In Karns, 3.8% of residents live below the poverty line, below both the Tennessee town median (14%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Only 1% of working residents stay in Karns for work; the rest commute out. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs here rose by 348, to 1,531. The top destinations are Knoxville (40%), Oak Ridge (13%) and Alcoa (3%).
| Karns | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 3.8% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $100,000 | $60,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.2% | 12% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Karns ranks healthier than 57% of the country’s towns
Within Tennessee it is healthier than 81% of the 176 graded towns: much of Tennessee scores lower on these measures. Against the 8,582 U.S. towns with household incomes like Karns’s, it is less healthy than 64%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
16% of Karns adults smoke cigarettes. In Karns, 32% of adults have been diagnosed with depression, against 29% in Tennessee’s towns and 23% across U.S. towns. Two figures for adults here: 34% sleep under 7 hours, 22% get no exercise outside work.
| Karns | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 29% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 39% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 28% | 25% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 39% | 35% |
| What stands out | Karns | TN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11% | 16.2% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 6.8% | 9.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Conservation land takes up 1.2% of Karns
Walkers can cover 0.1 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Karns Community Park | — | 14 |
| 2. Hidden Meadows Park | 0.1 mi | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median home in Karns sells for about $421K
The share of households in Karns who are owner-occupiers: 77%. Karns’ median rent is $1,765 a month.
| Karns | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,765 a month | $944 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 77% | 65% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Karns
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Karns
About 5 of every 100 Karns residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Tennessee.
About Karns
CDP in Tennessee, United States
Karns is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in northwest Knox County, Tennessee, about 11 miles (18 km) northwest of the center of Knoxville. The population of the CDP was 3,536 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Questions about Karns
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Karns, TN a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Karns grades B overall, better than 59% of U.S. towns and #37 of 175 in Tennessee. It grades B for health and B+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is Karns, TN expensive?
The typical home is worth about $329,000, 1% below the Tennessee typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.