Photo: Colin1769 · CC BY-SA 3.0Belle Meade ranks among the highest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Belle Meade grades A+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Measured by household income, Belle Meade is among the highest-earning towns in the country. The poverty rate is 1.4% (Tennessee 13.8%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Belle Meade, in a few figures
More than half of Belle Meade works in Nashville
614 working residents, 61%, have their main job in Nashville, 6.3 miles away. That’s 31 times as many as work in Belle Meade itself. The commute map ↓
Belle Meade trades workers with the towns around it
Belle Meade has about as many jobs (881) as working residents (1,000), but they are mostly different people: 985 residents leave for work each day while 866 people come in. Only 2% of the jobs in Belle Meade are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Belle Meade are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across Tennessee. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Tennessee worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Belle Meade residents work close to home
69% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Belle Meade
79% of Belle Meade residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 55% of the jobs based in Belle Meade pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Belle Meade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Belle Meade is among the top U.S. towns, #1 of 177 in Tennessee. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Belle Meade’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Belle Meade’s median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Belle Meade stays A+.
61% of working residents work in Nashville
Where Belle Meade clocks in
5% 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 works in Belle Meade, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 985 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 866 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 (0.88 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.
Time on the road from Belle Meade: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Belle Meade workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 850 commuters (the 23% 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.
How far Belle Meade’s workers travel
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.
What the 881 jobs in Belle Meade are
881 jobs are based in Belle Meade.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Belle Meade, 2014 → 2024: 933 → 881. 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 Belle Meade’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Belle Meade gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Belle Meade is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #30 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Belle Meade near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,109 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 2% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.6% of Belle Meade households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Belle Meade’s commuters take a bus or train.
3rd of 5,083: where Belle Meade ranks among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Cabin John MD | 2,179 | $250K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 5 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 249 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Belle Meade, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Work in the towns next to Belle Meade
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Belle Meade workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Meade | – | A+ | B | 17 min | $250,000+ |
| Forest Hills | under 1% | A+ | C− | 18 min | $250,000+ |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Belle Meade’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 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Belle Meade: questions
What is the median household income in Belle Meade?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Belle Meade?
1.4%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Belle Meade?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Belle Meade work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (61%, 6 mi), Brentwood (5%, 9 mi), Franklin (5%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Belle Meade walkable?
Belle Meade is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Belle Meade without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Belle Meade, from the people who make the trip.
More of Belle Meade
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. 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.