Photo: Nathan Metcalf · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Bean Station have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Bean Station is better than 36% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (C). Poverty touches 18.3% of residents, where Tennessee as a whole has 13.8%. Only 6% work in Bean Station; the top destination outside it is Morristown (28%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Bean Station, in brief
Bean Station makes and builds things
63% of the jobs based in Bean Station are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bean Station residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. The jobs ↓
Bean Station has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Bean Station went from 535 in 2013 to 822 in 2023, +54%. The jobs ↓
28% of Bean Station works in Morristown
347 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Morristown, 9.3 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Bean Station itself. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Bean Station’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Bean Station’s grade up (0.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($44,785, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bean Station could be anywhere from C to B−.
Making and building: 63% of jobs based in Bean Station
822 jobs are based in Bean Station.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bean Station, 2013 → 2023: 535 → 822. 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 Bean Station’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Bean Station work
Where Bean Station clocks in
28% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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.
Who commutes out of Bean Station, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,174 residents head out to work, 76 work right here, and 746 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Bean Station on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.66 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Commuting from Bean Station: about 29 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bean Station workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,180 commuters (the 6% 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.
Where in the region Bean Station works
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Bean Station, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 4.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,252 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). 2.6% of Bean Station households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bean Station’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Bean Station is 2,977th of 4,698 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 401 | Piperton TN | 2,889 | $130K | 4.6% | 3.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 419 | Falling Water TN | 2,315 | $112K | 7.3% | 1.5% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,975 | Springfield Township PA | 3,002 | $76K | 13.3% | 4.9% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,976 | Blasdell NY | 2,562 | $70K | 14.2% | 11.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,977 | Bean Station TN | 3,190 | $45K | 18.3% | 0.8% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,978 | Montgomery TX | 3,105 | $73K | 9.6% | 7.2% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,979 | Mount Morris Township IL | 3,639 | $50K | 12.6% | 2.8% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | 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 Bean Station, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Next door to Bean Station
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bean Station workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bean Station | – | C+ | C | 29 min | $44,785 |
| Mooresburg | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Mooresburg: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bean Station’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 Bean Station: questions
What is the median household income in Bean Station?
$44,785 (±$7,075) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bean Station?
18.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bean Station?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bean Station work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morristown (28%, 9 mi), Knoxville (9%, 45 mi), Rutledge (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bean Station walkable?
Bean Station is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bean Station 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 Bean Station, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bean Station
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.