Northcutts Cove Chapel · Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 3.0Altamont’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 6% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability D: more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 34 minutes each way (Tennessee 26, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Altamont; the top destination outside it is McMinnville (7%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Altamont, in brief
Altamont is where the jobs are
Altamont has 584 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Altamont workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 26 across Tennessee. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. 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; with 364 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Altamont’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Altamont is better than 6% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Altamont’s grade up (15.9%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($41,373, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (13.0%) is left out: Altamont’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, Altamont could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Altamont fills up on a workday
On a workday 312 residents head out to work, 52 work right here, and 532 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Altamont on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
1.6 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.
About 34 minutes each way, longer than most of Tennessee
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Altamont workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 380 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Tennessee: 87% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Where Altamont’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Altamont clocks in
7% of workers
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
584 jobs are based in Altamont. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Altamont’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Altamont, 2013 → 2023: 532 → 584. 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.
Half of Altamont commutes less than 21 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 28% 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.
Most trips from Altamont start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Altamont is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.0% 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 420 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). 0.7% of Altamont households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Altamont’s commuters take a bus or train.
Altamont is 3,788th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Altamont, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 289 | Rossville TN | 1,215 | $120K | 7.3% | 6.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 631 | Orlinda TN | 1,028 | $84K | 6.4% | 3.1% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 708 | Unionville TN | 1,275 | $71K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,786 | Carson City MI | 1,137 | $44K | 15.7% | 5.0% | 5% | D |
| 3,787 | Belle MO | 1,379 | $55K | 21.8% | 4.4% | 8% | D |
| 3,788 | Altamont TN | 1,203 | $41K | 15.9% | 13.0% | 14% | D |
| 3,789 | Mount Hope WV | 1,234 | $34K | 32.3% | 14.6% | 2% | D |
| 3,790 | Strong ME | 1,122 | $48K | 13.9% | 0.0% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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.
Altamont and the towns next door
Darker towns draw more of Altamont’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Altamont workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altamont | – | D | D | 34 min | $41,373 |
| Beersheba Springs | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Beersheba Springs: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Altamont: questions
What is the median household income in Altamont?
$41,373 (±$3,715) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Altamont?
15.9%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Altamont?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Altamont work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McMinnville (7%, 18 mi), Manchester (6%, 19 mi), Chattanooga (5%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Altamont walkable?
Altamont is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Altamont without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Altamont, from the people who make the trip.
More of Altamont
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.