Photo: Quentin Melson · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 3.9 jobs in Nashville for every working resident, and 1,906 people commute in
Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns. 2,011 jobs are based in Nashville, against 510 working residents. Jobs and income earn Nashville C; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Nashville at work: what stands out
How Nashville earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Nashville is better than 27% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Nashville’s grade up (7.2%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($51,638, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: Nashville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Nashville could be anywhere from C− to C+.
How a workday changes Nashville
On a workday 405 residents head out to work and 105 work right here.
About 2,800 people are in Nashville on a workday afternoon, 118% more than live here.
3.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Who travels to work in Nashville, and from where
Where Nashville clocks in
15% of workers
10% of workers
9% 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.
Nashville is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nashville, 2014 → 2024: 1,556 → 2,011. 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 Nashville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Nashville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nashville workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 505 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Nashville
About 17% 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.
In Nashville, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Nashville is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 585 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.2% of Nashville households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Nashville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Nashville is 2,932nd among 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Foxcliff Estates IN | 1,674 | $142K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,930 | Verona Township MI | 1,184 | $60K | 8.4% | 0.7% | 5% | C |
| 2,931 | Kincaid IL | 1,310 | $65K | 15.5% | 9.5% | 3% | C |
| 2,932 | Nashville IN | 1,273 | $52K | 7.2% | 1.7% | 21% | C |
| 2,933 | Tye TX | 1,264 | $48K | 10.7% | 0.7% | 3% | C |
| 2,934 | Adams WI | 1,431 | $69K | 10.7% | 1.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Nashville, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
How Nashville compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Washington Township (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Nashville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville | – | C | B+ | 23 min | $51,638 |
| Washington Township | 6% | B− | C+ | 32 min | $66,793 |
| Jackson Township | under 2% | B | D | 40 min | $74,020 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Nashville’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 Nashville: questions
What is the median household income in Nashville?
$51,638 (±$11,729) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nashville?
7.2%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nashville?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nashville work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (15%, 17 mi), Indianapolis (10%, 40 mi), Bloomington (9%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Nashville walkable?
Nashville is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nashville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nashville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nashville
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. 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.