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Sullivan County is not short of middle-class family households. It has over 22,000 of them, according to current Census data. But it’s short of homes priced where the broad base of that middle class can reach them.

May’s Inventory was deepest from $200,000 to $400,000 and above. That favors the upper half of the middle-class households and squeezes the lower-middle-class tier hardest at its entry point.

Sullivan has 22,121 middle-class family households. That’s 51% of all families in the county. At a 35% of gross income spent on housing standard, every tier of that middle class can afford homes the local market offers. The challenge is volume. Thousands of qualified families are chasing a few hundred listings, and the squeeze is tightest on where most families are, according to an analysis of Census data and May’s active inventory count by the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors (NETAR).

Defining the middle class

Following the Pew standard, the middle class spans family incomes from two-thirds to double the county median family income of $78,019. In Sullivan that’s a range of $52,013 to $156,039. That band divides into three middle-class tiers. Each row shows the tier’s household count and the top home price it can carry when 35% of gross income covers the mortgage, taxes, and insurance cost.

Most of Sullivan’s middle class (46.5%) is in Kingsport. The surrounding county carries more of the region’s middle-income families, while the city holds a heavier concentration of lower-income households.

What each tier can afford to buy

Pairing each tier’s affordable price band against active listings (year-to-date 2026) shows where county buyers can actually transact.

Of 606 active listings, 449 – about 74% – fall within the middle class’s overall price range. But spread across 22,121 middle-class families, that supply is thin. The lower middle class alone, the county’s largest tier at 9,982 households, has roughly 250 homes in its range: about 40 families for every available home. The ratio worsens up the tiers — 59 families per home for the middle tier, 64 for the upper-middle.

The squeeze at the entry point

The pressure concentrates at the bottom. The lower middle class can begin buying around $231,000 — but only 127 of the county’s 606 listings, about one in five, fall below that floor. That pushes the largest block of middle-class families to shop at the upper end of their budgets, competing with the middle-and upper-middle tiers for the same inventory in the $230,000-to-$385,000 range. Below them, 13,938 family households — 32% of the county — fall short of the middle class entirely and face the thinnest entry-level supply of all.

Methodology

Middle class defined per the Pew standard as family income from two-thirds to double the county median family income ($78,019), divided into three equal tiers. Affordability assumes 35% of gross family income applied to total housing cost (principal, interest, property taxes, and insurance), a 30-year fixed mortgage at 6.5%, a 10% down payment, property taxes at 0.60% and homeowners insurance at 0.45% of home value annually. Family-income distribution from U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-Year Estimates (Table B19119); 43,390 family households. Households within an income or price bracket are apportioned uniformly. Active inventory reflects the May 2026 listings by price bracket (606 total). At a conservative 28% standard, the lower-middle entry price falls to about $185,000, with 50 listings below it. The 35% standard represents an upper bound on affordability.

Categories: REAL ESTATE