Knoxville rents and rental comps

Name: Knoxville, TN rental market data
Creator: PropMetrics

The median asking rent across 15 Knoxville zip codes is $1,721/month, down 8.5% from a year ago.

University of Tennessee fills the apartments and Oak Ridge National Lab fills them with people who have security clearances. No state income tax, affordable entry, solid fundamentals without the hype.

Median Asking Rent

$1,721

Rent Change (YoY)

-8.5%

Avg Days on Market

Active Rental Listings

1,114

Median List Price

$369,900

Median Asking Rent Over Time

Average across 15 zip codes

12 months-5.5%

Median Asking Rent by ZIP Code

Rental Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median Rent	YoY Growth	$/Sqft	Avg DOM	Listings
37922	$2,500/mo	-3.8%	$1.39	48	54
37902	$2,300/mo	-28.1%	$2.31	90	21
37931	$2,295/mo	-4.4%	$1.37	18	57
37924	$2,120/mo	-2.1%	$1.31	43	33
37909	$1,995/mo	+10.8%	$1.42	86	53
37921	$1,995/mo	-2.7%	$1.50	51	91
37919	$1,700/mo	-8.1%	$1.49	49	62
37920	$1,650/mo	-17.5%	$1.49	48	147
37923	$1,600/mo	-11.1%	$1.33	44	78
37917	$1,550/mo	-3.1%	$1.56	53	111
37915	$1,500/mo	+7.1%	$1.63	78	11
37918	$1,500/mo	-24.1%	$1.44	44	149
37914	$1,499/mo	-0.1%	$1.48	32	83
37916	$1,495/mo	-40.2%	$2.29	38	77
37912	$1,400/mo	0.0%	$1.56	57	87

Comps for any address in Knoxville

Type the address, get the comps. No setup.

Median Asking Rent by Bedroom

Unit Size	Median Rent	$/Sqft
Studio	$1,099/mo	$2.80/sqft
1 Bedroom	$1,085/mo	$1.72/sqft
2 Bedroom	$1,500/mo	$1.56/sqft
3 Bedroom	$2,195/mo	$1.47/sqft
4 Bedroom	$2,390/mo	$1.25/sqft

Aggregated median across all Knoxville zip codes with available data.

For-Sale Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median List Price	YoY Change	$/Sqft
37922	$750,000	+2.7%	$252.74
37902	$700,000	+11.3%	$596.56
37919	$635,000	+14.4%	$275.48
37915	$625,500	+98.6%	$449.08
37931	$445,000	-1.7%	$204.02
37909	$425,000	+11.9%	$236.16
37923	$409,900	-3.6%	$208.15
37920	$369,900	-1.4%	$238.10
37924	$369,000	+2.2%	$201.09
37918	$350,000	0.0%	$211.27
37917	$310,000	0.0%	$244.68
37921	$310,000	+3.4%	$216.48
37912	$309,900	-0.0%	$227.08
37916	$285,000	-38.6%	$476.64
37914	$280,000	+1.8%	$215.61

HUD Fair Market Rents

Unit Size	Fair Market Rent	Median Asking Rent	Difference
Studio	$1,470/mo	$1,099/mo	-25%
1 Bedroom	$1,480/mo	$1,085/mo	-27%
2 Bedroom	$1,840/mo	$1,500/mo	-18%
3 Bedroom	$2,330/mo	$2,195/mo	-6%
4 Bedroom	$2,720/mo	$2,390/mo	-12%

HUD publishes Fair Market Rents once a year for the Knoxville metro area. Local housing authorities use them to set Section 8 voucher payment standards, usually 90% to 110% of the FMR.

About the Knoxville rental market

The median asking rent across Knoxville, TN sits at $1,721/month, pulled from active rental listings in 15 zip codes. That's down 8.5% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 37922 tops the list at $2,500/month. ZIP 37912 comes in lowest at $1,400/month. That's a 79% spread between the top and bottom zip codes, which is wide. City-wide averages won't tell you much about a specific property here.

A 2-bedroom rents for $1,500/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $1,085. 3-bedrooms come in around $2,195.

Listings take longer here. The average is 52 days on market, which gives renters more room to negotiate and means landlords should price carefully.

Rent-to-price math is tight in Knoxville. The gross figure sits at about 5.6% ($1,721/month against $369,900 median price). Most investors here are betting on appreciation, not monthly cash flow.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the Knoxville metro is $1,840/month. Asking rents come in about 6% below the federal benchmark, which can make Section 8 properties competitive here.

Knoxville is a small-market play anchored by the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. UT brings 30,000+ students who need housing. Oak Ridge brings well-paid government and research employees. No state income tax. Downtown, the Old City, and Fort Sanders near campus are premium. South Knoxville and the areas east of town are cheaper. Not flashy, but the demand drivers are stable and entry points are reasonable. Works best for investors who understand the student rental cycle. Demand is seasonal, and the tenant profile is different from a typical working professional market.

These numbers are city-wide averages. If you're pricing a specific property in Knoxville, pull comps from the same zip code. The spread is usually bigger than people expect.