Delano, Tennessee.
Typical home $270,453 (+8.8% in a year). Cleveland, TN metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$825 (+139%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $21,961 +9%
- $248,492$270,453 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $59,663 +28%
- $210,790$270,453 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Delano$1,420
- Tennessee$1,737
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Delano, TN rose 8.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Delano, Polk County, Tennessee
Delano, in Polk County, had 777 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Polk County was 3.7% in August 2026, and the county had 3.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Polk County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Delano is a very small community in Polk County, Tennessee, where most people know one another by sight if not by name. Few adults here hold a four-year degree, and a modest share of residents live below the poverty line. Homes cost somewhat more than the county's household incomes might suggest, so buying here takes some saving. Winters are cool with little snow, summers are warm, and rain and melted snow add up to a good deal over the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and professional and business services also employing many. Unemployment in Polk County is close to where it stood a year ago, though the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before. Across Polk County, the largest workplaces include Polk County Schools, K VA T Food Stores and CG Roxane LLC Benton ASW, a spring water bottler. The typical commute is a fairly long one for a small community.
Things to do. Gee Creek Wilderness and Hiwassee/Ocoee Scenic River State Park, both protected areas, lie a short drive away and are good for walking and time outdoors. Further afield, Craighead Caverns is a tourist attraction a longer drive away. The Hiwassee River, also a longer drive away, suits those who like to spend time by the water.
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- 6%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 25 mintypical commute
What people in Polk County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Polk County had 2,666 jobs in 2025, 3.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 49° and lows near 28°; warmest in July, with highs near 88° and lows near 68°. About 4 inches of snow and 60 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Athens weather station, 12 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Polk County
- Polk County SchoolsSchool district339FTE
- K VA T Food StoresSupermarket141
- CG Roxane LLC Benton ASWSpring waters, purifying and bottling78
- Change Academy at lake of the OzarksMental health facilities, residential63
- DAC of CopperhillHomes for the aged with nursing care40
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture32
- Ames Rubber Manufacturing Company, Inc. Tri-state DivisionExtruded, molded or lathe-cut rubber goods manufacturing27
- CG Roxane LLC Benton rPETPolyethylene terephathalate resins manufacturing21
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 6 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 370 people in all across the county; Delano has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Strong windRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Delano’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Polk County and the Cleveland, TN metro.
Delano home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Delano$270,453
- Tennessee$330,844
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Delano14
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Delano address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Delano — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.