A town of 14,471, settled in 1822. Nearly 2.5% of it is conserved land.
The 3 things Athens does most differently from other towns.
12 postcards, papers and photographs from public archives, and 7 places on the National Register.
Where Athens’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
What neighbors are saying. Town Square →
I was thinking about what makes Athens feel like home and it occurred to me that our relatively short commute to work might be a big part of…
Nothing on the calendar.
Ordered by what stands out in Athens. Another town gets a different order.
5.1 miles of trails across 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Regional Park | 4 mi | 160 |
| 2. Heritage Park | — | 8 |
| 3. McMinn Field | — | 5 |
About one in 3 of Athens’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Chattanooga (8%), Cleveland (7%) and Sweetwater (3%). Half commute less than 14 miles.
Athens beats the Tennessee average on 0 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 12.
| What stands out | Athens | TN |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 22.7% | 14.6% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.7% | 8.6% |
| More adults with obesity | 46.5% | 37.6% |
Athens reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 91% report less.
The public schools Athens’s kids attend outperform 85% of Tennessee’s districts on state tests. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the top.
| School | Grades | Students | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athens City Primary | PK–2 | 657 | Not graded |
| Athens City Intermediate | 3–5 | 572 | Not graded |
| Athens City Middle School | 6–8 | 519 | B+ |
| McMinn High School | 9–12 | 1,272 | C+ |
| Christ's Legacy Academy Private | K–12 | 114 |
The typical Athens home is worth about $263,000, up 2.5% in a year, 21% below the Tennessee typical home.
Athens has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. A typical July afternoon reaches 89°, a January night drops to 30°, and about 4 inches of snow falls in a normal winter.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 51% of U.S. communities.
1880
1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Tennessee (TN) - McMinn County - Athens - ED 54-1 to 9
Photo · Wikimedia Commons. A different picture from Athens’s archive appears here every day.
See all 12 archive items →7 places in Athens on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Athens.
City in Tennessee, United States
Athens is the county seat of McMinn County, Tennessee, United States and the principal city of the Athens Micropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 53,569. The city is located almost equidistantly between the major cities of Knoxville and Chattanooga. The population was 14,084 at the 2020 census. The population estimate for 2024 was 15,050 for the U.S census
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
