Bolivar Court Square Historic District · Photo: RealElectrical · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Bolivar are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 21.7% of residents, where Tennessee as a whole has 13.8%. The two grades for Bolivar are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in four work in Bolivar; the top destination outside it is Jackson (16%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Bolivar
Income, poverty and work: Bolivar’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bolivar is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #173 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Bolivar’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (13.2%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bolivar could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How far Bolivar’s workers travel
About 23% 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.
Bolivar on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,475 residents head out to work, 543 work right here, and 2,365 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,900 people are in Bolivar on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 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.
Where people from Bolivar work
Where Bolivar clocks in
16% of workers
5% of workers
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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
2,908 jobs are based in Bolivar.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bolivar, 2013 → 2023: 2,291 → 2,908. 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 Bolivar’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Bolivar: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bolivar workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,967 commuters (the 11% 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.
Getting around Bolivar: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bolivar is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns, #70 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Bolivar 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 2,200 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). 11.8% of Bolivar households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bolivar’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Bolivar compares with U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 438 | Coopertown TN | 4,843 | $118K | 9.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,637 | Wiggins MS | 4,316 | $50K | 24.8% | 12.0% | 28% | D− |
| 3,638 | Bellaire OH | 3,738 | $38K | 31.8% | 8.7% | 10% | D− |
| 3,639 | Bolivar TN | 5,043 | $39K | 21.7% | 13.2% | 27% | D− |
| 3,640 | Kinross Township MI | 6,790 | $61K | 21.3% | 11.4% | 15% | D− |
| 3,641 | Mojave CA | 5,173 | $56K | 25.5% | 17.8% | 20% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | 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 Bolivar, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
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 Bolivar: questions
What is the median household income in Bolivar?
$39,028 (±$5,928) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bolivar?
21.7%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bolivar?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bolivar work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (16%, 29 mi), Memphis (5%, 55 mi), Whiteville (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bolivar walkable?
Bolivar is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bolivar without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bolivar, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bolivar
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.