White Plains · Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Algood’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 32.9% of residents; Tennessee has 13.8%. Jobs and income earn Algood C; getting around on foot earns it C−. 4% of workers have no commute at all; Tennessee has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Algood apart on work
More than half of Algood works in Cookeville
769 working residents, 51%, have their main job in Cookeville, 5.2 miles away across the town line. That’s 17 times as many as work in Algood itself. The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
47% of the jobs in Algood are in trade, transport and utilities, against 21% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Algood has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Algood went from 1,285 in 2013 to 1,835 in 2023, +43%. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
34% of the jobs based in Algood are held by workers 29 or younger, against 26% of Algood’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
Few Algood workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Algood earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Algood is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #102 of 177 in Tennessee. Unemployment holds Algood’s grade up (0.7%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Algood could be anywhere from C to C+.
51% of working residents work in Cookeville
Where Algood clocks in
51% 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 1,835 jobs based in Algood
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Algood, 2013 → 2023: 1,285 → 1,835. 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 Algood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Algood takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Algood workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,603 commuters (the 4% 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.
A workday in Algood: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,468 residents head out to work, 45 work right here, and 1,790 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 (1.21 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How far Algood’s workers travel
About 29% 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.
The commute in Algood is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Algood is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns, #148 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,671 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). 3.4% of Algood households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Algood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Algood is 2,785th among 4,112 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 419 | Coopertown TN | 4,843 | $118K | 9.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,783 | Clayton NY | 4,539 | $90K | 12.8% | 4.8% | 24% | C |
| 2,784 | Longbranch WA | 4,638 | $96K | 18.4% | 3.3% | 2% | C |
| 2,785 | Algood TN | 4,165 | $42K | 32.9% | 0.7% | 3% | C |
| 2,786 | Livingston TN | 4,147 | $40K | 16.2% | 0.2% | 25% | C |
| 2,787 | Vassar Township MI | 3,871 | $63K | 11.6% | 3.8% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Algood, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
The towns next door employ 51% of Algood
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Algood workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algood | – | C | C− | 22 min | $42,359 |
| Cookeville | 51% | C | B+ | 19 min | $51,375 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Cookeville. Darker towns draw more of Algood’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 Algood: questions
What is the median household income in Algood?
$42,359 (±$9,039) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Algood?
32.9%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Algood?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Algood work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cookeville (51%, 5 mi), Nashville (5%, 75 mi), Knoxville (3%, 85 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Algood walkable?
Algood is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Algood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Algood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Algood
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.