Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Carthage has lower unemployment (1.3%) than 92% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute lasts 25 minutes, next to 26 for Tennessee and 26 for the U.S. Jobs and income earn Carthage B; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in ten stay in Carthage for work; outside it, Nashville is the main destination (15%, 47 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Carthage
Carthage’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Carthage is Nashville, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (166) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Carthage is where the jobs are
Carthage has 1,613 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Carthage’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carthage is better than 58% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Carthage’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carthage could be anywhere from C to A−.
Carthage’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Carthage
On a workday 952 residents head out to work, 122 work right here, and 1,491 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Carthage on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.5 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.
Commuting in to Carthage: where workers come from
Where Carthage clocks in
12% of workers
8% 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.
What Carthage’s employers do
1,613 jobs are based in Carthage.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carthage, 2013 → 2023: 1,276 → 1,613. 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 Carthage’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Carthage
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carthage workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,114 commuters (the 7% 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 Carthage: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carthage is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 1,201 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). 8.2% of Carthage households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Carthage’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Carthage ranks: 1,842nd of 5,328 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,840 | Sale Creek TN | 2,955 | $54K | 5.0% | 2.9% | 4% | B |
| 1,841 | New London IA | 1,850 | $78K | 8.4% | 2.6% | 8% | B |
| 1,842 | Carthage TN | 2,282 | $67K | 8.3% | 1.3% | 11% | B |
| 1,843 | Plainview TN | 2,263 | $64K | 10.7% | 2.1% | 1% | B |
| 1,844 | Grottoes VA | 3,099 | $100K | 9.0% | 4.8% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Carthage, 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 Carthage: questions
What is the median household income in Carthage?
$67,006 (±$14,870) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carthage?
8.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carthage?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carthage work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (15%, 47 mi), Lebanon (12%, 23 mi), Gordonsville (8%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carthage walkable?
Carthage is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carthage without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carthage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carthage
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.