Karns Elementary

Karns Elementary operates as a roomy K-5 school in Knoxville, Tennessee, one of the schools within Knox County. Current enrollment sits at 931 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 98% above the typical public school in Tennessee, which averages around 470 students.

Knox County runs 93 schools in total, collectively educating 60,185 students. Karns Elementary is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Karns Elementary reports that the largest single group is White, at 71% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school records 15% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, 6% Black. By comparison, Knox County as a whole is about 80% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

In the broader community, Knox County reports that the typical household earns roughly $74,222 per year, about 41% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Knox County's 103 public schools (combined enrollment of about 63,014 students), Karns Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Karns Preschool is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 27%: 1,276 students in 2018 compared to 931 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 77% to 71% across the same window.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.