Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Where Alexandria earns its living
3% of workers have no commute at all; Tennessee has 13%. Only 3% stay in Alexandria for work; outside it, Nashville is the main destination (18%, 42 miles). The trip to work takes 43 minutes on average (Tennessee 26, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Alexandria
Alexandria’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Alexandria is Nashville, 43 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (78) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Alexandria workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 43 minutes each way, against 26 across Tennessee. Over a year that’s about 330 hours of commuting, 130 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Alexandria makes and builds things
64% of the jobs based in Alexandria are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Alexandria residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 432 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Near or far: the trip to work from Alexandria
About 16% 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.
Each way, about 43 minutes from Alexandria
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alexandria workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 509 commuters (the 3% 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.
Goods, not services: 64% of the jobs in Alexandria
388 jobs are based in Alexandria.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alexandria, 2014 → 2024: 206 → 388. 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 Alexandria’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Alexandria on a workday afternoon
On a workday 417 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 373 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.90 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.
The places Alexandria commutes to
Where Alexandria clocks in
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.
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 Alexandria: questions
What is the median household income in Alexandria?
$50,116 (±$15,444) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alexandria?
23.6%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alexandria?
43 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alexandria work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (18%, 42 mi), Smithville (11%, 14 mi), Lebanon (9%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Alexandria without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alexandria, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alexandria
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.