Sale CreekTN
A town of 2,955, settled in 1841.
Is Sale Creek a good place to live?
Sale Creek gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $302K, 4.2 years of the Chattanooga metro’s $72K median household income. It grades C overall, 78th among Tennessee's 175 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 72% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 99% of U.S. towns. Among 177 Tennessee towns, just 6 have a higher median age than Sale Creek. The biggest park or preserve is Graysville Mountain Resource Management Area, at 428 acres.
96% of working residents leave Sale Creek for work
Where Sale Creek’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Sale Creek grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Tennessee), ordered by how far Sale Creek is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Sale Creek: who provides what
Sale Creek is unincorporated, so Hamilton 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 Sale Creek.
Sale Creek trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
More than half of Sale Creek’s working residents commute to Chattanooga
Most working residents leave Sale Creek for work: only 4% work in town. Sale Creek’s average trip to work is 32 minutes, above both Tennessee’s towns (25 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). 5% of residents live below the poverty line in Sale Creek.
| Sale Creek | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.6% | 12% | 8% |
| Median household income | $54,000 | $61,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Public schools in Sale Creek beat 59% of Tennessee districts
Its public schools are run by the Hamilton County school district. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Sale Creek Middle / High School, with 577 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Hamilton County Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 395 | A |
| Sale Creek Middle / High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 577 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within TN on state tests and graduation
Inland flooding leads a high hazard risk in Sale Creek
Since 2004, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Sale Creek.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Residents of Sale Creek are less healthy than 67% of U.S. towns
Against the 7,097 U.S. towns with household incomes like Sale Creek’s, it is healthier than 63%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income. Within Tennessee it is healthier than 67% of the 176 graded towns: much of Tennessee scores lower on these measures.
Sale Creek beats the Tennessee average on 5 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 29% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Sale Creek, where Tennessee’s towns sit at 29% and U.S. towns at 23%. 41% of Sale Creek adults have high blood pressure.
| Sale Creek | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 29% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 41% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 20% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 39% | 35% |
| What stands out | Sale Creek | TN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.3% | 16.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.5% | 13.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.1% | 8.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In Sale Creek, expect mild winters and hot summers
Sale Creek has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 89°, January nights drop to 30° and about 2 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Sale Creek’s grade for cost of living is a B
Homes are within reach (about $302K for the typical one, B for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 25 miles.
The typical Sale Creek home is worth about $302,000, up 0.9% in a year, 9% below the Tennessee typical home.
| Sale Creek | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 87% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,042 a month | $944 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Sale Creek | Tennessee towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.8% | 1.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Graysville Mountain Resource Management Area | 0.4 mi | 428 |
| 2. Rock Creek Resource Management Area | — | 17 |
| 3. Rock Creek RMA | — | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Sale Creek
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Sale Creek
About 4 of every 100 Sale Creek residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Tennessee.
About Sale Creek
Census-designated place in Tennessee, United States
Sale Creek is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in northern Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 27 between Chattanooga and Dayton, Tennessee. Sale Creek's population was 2,901 as of the 2020 census. Sale Creek is home to Sale Creek Middle/High School. A local curiosity, the reportedly "haunted" Shipley Hollow Road, supposedly home to a Sasquatch-like creature, is in Sale Creek.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 33 sq mi
- Elevation
- 725 ft
- ZIP code
- 37373
Questions about Sale Creek
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Sale Creek, TN a good place to live?
Sale Creek grades C overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #78 of 175 in Tennessee. It grades C for health and B for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Sale Creek, TN expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.