Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0There are 3.3 jobs in Alcoa for every working resident, and 16,626 people commute in
Alcoa has 17,395 jobs, against 5,213 working residents. Jobs and income earn Alcoa B; getting around on foot earns it C. About one in seven work in Alcoa; the top destination outside it is Knoxville (26%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Alcoa
Alcoa has far more jobs than workers
Alcoa has 17,395 jobs, 3.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 26,000 people are in town, 89% more than the 14,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Alcoa works one town over
43% of working residents work in a town that borders Alcoa: Knoxville (26%) and Maryville (17%). Next door ↓
Alcoa draws workers from far and wide
The 17,395 jobs in Alcoa are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 28%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
The four measures behind Alcoa’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alcoa is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #53 of 177 in Tennessee. Unemployment holds Alcoa’s grade up (2.0%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alcoa could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Alcoa by day and by night
On a workday 4,444 residents head out to work and 769 work right here.
About 26,000 people are in Alcoa on a workday afternoon, 89% more than live here.
3.3 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where the people who work in Alcoa live
Where Alcoa clocks in
26% of workers
17% of workers
3% 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 Alcoa
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alcoa, 2013 → 2023: 14,289 → 17,395. 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 Alcoa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Alcoa, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alcoa workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,816 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Tennessee: 87% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Alcoa
About 15% 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.
In Alcoa, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alcoa is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns, #94 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.0% across Tennessee.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,408 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). 2.3% of Alcoa households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Alcoa’s commuters take a bus or train.
Alcoa is 1,014th of 2,059 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 18,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Nolensville TN | 15,789 | $177K | 2.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 180 | Lakeland TN | 14,422 | $116K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 302 | Arlington TN | 15,703 | $135K | 4.9% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,012 | Triangle VA | 10,450 | $110K | 7.6% | 9.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,013 | Grand Terrace CA | 12,936 | $84K | 7.5% | 6.7% | 3% | B |
| 1,014 | Alcoa TN | 13,689 | $66K | 12.9% | 2.0% | 15% | B |
| 1,015 | Berea OH | 17,920 | $75K | 8.1% | 5.2% | 9% | B |
| 1,016 | Clinton MA | 15,718 | $90K | 8.6% | 5.4% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,059 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Alcoa, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Work next door: 43% of Alcoa’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alcoa workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcoa | – | B | C | 24 min | $65,714 |
| Eagleton Village | under 1% | B− | C | 24 min | $71,875 |
| Rockford | under 1% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Maryville | 17% | A− | B+ | 23 min | $81,963 |
| Knoxville | 26% | C+ | A | 20 min | $54,039 |
| Louisville | under 1% | B | C− | 24 min | $89,744 |
Same-state neighbors only. Rockford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Knoxville. Darker towns draw more of Alcoa’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 Alcoa: questions
What is the median household income in Alcoa?
$65,714 (±$5,905) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alcoa?
12.9%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alcoa?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alcoa work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Knoxville (26%, 11 mi), Maryville (17%, 5 mi), Oak Ridge (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alcoa walkable?
Alcoa is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alcoa without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alcoa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alcoa
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.