Terra Ceia Village Improvement Association Hall · Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Memphis works elsewhere
Jobs and income earn Memphis C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. There are 1,109 jobs in Memphis, and 4,077 of its residents work somewhere. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.0 in Miami.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Memphis and work: the main findings
Memphis makes and builds things
52% of the jobs based in Memphis are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Memphis residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 18%. The jobs ↓
Memphis is a place people come home to
There are 1,109 jobs based in Memphis, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Memphis has about 6,200 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Memphis’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Memphis is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #445 of 638 in Florida. Job access by car holds Memphis’ grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (8.1%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Memphis could be anywhere from C− to A−.
52% of the jobs in Memphis make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Memphis, 2013 → 2023: 1,468 → 1,109. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Memphis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Memphis on a workday
On a workday 4,000 residents head out to work, 77 work right here, and 1,032 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,200 people are in Memphis on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
15% of working residents work in Bradenton
Where Memphis clocks in
15% of workers
5% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 27 minutes each way for Memphis’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Memphis workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,091 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Memphis goes to work
About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Memphis is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Memphis is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #196 of 638 in Florida. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above the 3.6% across Florida.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,373 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 42% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.2% of Memphis households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Memphis’ commuters take a bus or train.
2,079th of 2,886: where Memphis ranks among U.S. towns of 6,400 to 12,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Southwest Ranches FL | 7,773 | $161K | 3.8% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 344 | Westlake FL | 9,042 | $132K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,077 | Green River WY | 11,450 | $85K | 9.3% | 5.6% | 28% | C+ |
| 2,078 | Air Force Academy CO | 6,727 | $69K | 18.7% | 4.6% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,079 | Memphis FL | 9,185 | $75K | 14.2% | 8.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,080 | Franklin OH | 11,647 | $59K | 22.5% | 4.6% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,081 | Keene TX | 7,109 | $52K | 13.6% | 5.2% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,886 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Memphis, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
The towns around Memphis
The biggest share goes to Palmetto (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Memphis’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Memphis: questions
What is the median household income in Memphis?
$74,839 (±$12,493) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Memphis?
14.2%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Memphis?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Memphis work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bradenton (15%, 4 mi), St. Petersburg (5%, 16 mi), Tampa (5%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Memphis walkable?
Memphis is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Memphis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 42% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Memphis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Memphis
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.