Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, income and commuting in Chapel Hill, TN
The average commute takes 35 minutes each way (Tennessee 26, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Chapel Hill A−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Only 5% stay in Chapel Hill for work; outside it, Nashville is the main destination (17%, 38 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Chapel Hill: the figures worth knowing
Chapel Hill’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Chapel Hill is Nashville, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 17% of working residents (145) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Chapel Hill has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Chapel Hill went from 510 in 2014 to 827 in 2024, +62%. The jobs ↓
Chapel Hill workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 26 across Tennessee. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 69 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 865 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Chapel Hill
On income, poverty and job access, Chapel Hill is better than 76% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input (4.1%, U.S. 12.5%); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($75,441, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: Chapel Hill’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, Chapel Hill could be anywhere from B to A.
The commute from Chapel Hill, by distance
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 827 jobs in Chapel Hill are
827 jobs are based in Chapel Hill.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chapel Hill, 2014 → 2024: 510 → 827. 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 Chapel Hill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 35 minutes from Chapel Hill
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chapel Hill workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 826 commuters (the 8% 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 many people are in Chapel Hill by day
On a workday 826 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 788 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 (0.96 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.
The places Chapel Hill commutes to
Where Chapel Hill clocks in
16% of workers
6% 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.
In Chapel Hill, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chapel Hill is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 898 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). 2.0% of Chapel Hill households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chapel Hill’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Chapel Hill ranks: 955th of 5,921 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 243 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 953 | Warren OR | 1,637 | $127K | 1.2% | 2.8% | 1% | A− |
| 954 | Virginia Gardens FL | 2,307 | $70K | 6.4% | 3.7% | 3% | A− |
| 955 | Chapel Hill TN | 1,905 | $75K | 4.1% | 2.0% | 5% | A− |
| 956 | Seneca NY | 2,591 | $91K | 6.2% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| 957 | Hepburn Township PA | 2,534 | $81K | 4.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Chapel Hill, 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 2024, 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 Chapel Hill: questions
What is the median household income in Chapel Hill?
$75,441 (±$12,009) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chapel Hill?
4.1%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chapel Hill?
35 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chapel Hill work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (17%, 38 mi), Franklin (16%, 22 mi), Murfreesboro (6%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Chapel Hill walkable?
Chapel Hill is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chapel Hill without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chapel Hill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chapel Hill
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.