Photo: Airplanespotter15 · CC BY-SA 4.0Making a living in Knoxville
Hardly any stay in Knoxville for work; outside it, Fort Valley is the main destination (10%, 14 miles). Knoxville has 24 jobs, against 20 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Knoxville, and who commutes in
On a workday 20 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 24 people come in from elsewhere.
About 40 people are in Knoxville on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from Knoxville work
Where Knoxville clocks in
10% of workers
10% 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.
The kinds of work in Knoxville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Knoxville, 2014 → 2024: 7 → 24. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Knoxville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Knoxville to work
About 50% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Next door to Knoxville
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Knoxville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knoxville | – | — | — | — | — |
| Roberta | under 5% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Roberta: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Knoxville’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 2024, 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 Knoxville: questions
Where do people who live in Knoxville work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Valley (10%, 14 mi), Macon-Bibb County (10%, 18 mi), Andalusia (5%, 175 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Knoxville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Knoxville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.