Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0Cleveland’s household incomes are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Cleveland C; getting around on foot earns it B+. The poverty rate is 16.7% (Tennessee 13.8%). About one in three work in Cleveland itself; outside it, Chattanooga draws the most (23%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cleveland and work: the main findings
Cleveland is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Cleveland (South Cleveland, East Cleveland, Hopewell and Wildwood Lake) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Cleveland has 1.6 per resident. Next door ↓
Cleveland’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Cleveland is Chattanooga, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 23% of working residents (4,603) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Cleveland draws workers from far and wide
The 32,814 jobs in Cleveland are filled from a wide area. Cleveland’s own residents hold 23% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 64% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Cleveland are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across Tennessee. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Tennessee 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Cleveland
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cleveland is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #117 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Cleveland’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cleveland could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The distance from Cleveland to work
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Where Cleveland’s workforce comes from
Where Cleveland clocks in
23% of workers
3% 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.
How long Cleveland spends getting to work: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cleveland workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 19,527 commuters (the 10% 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 Cleveland by day
On a workday 12,909 residents head out to work, 7,445 work right here, and 25,369 people come in from elsewhere.
About 64,000 people are in Cleveland on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 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 2024, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Cleveland
32,814 jobs are based in Cleveland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cleveland, 2014 → 2024: 32,868 → 32,814. 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 Cleveland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Cleveland gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cleveland is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #26 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Cleveland 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 21,624 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). 6.7% of Cleveland households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Cleveland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cleveland places 742nd of 846 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 36,000 to 69,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Brentwood TN | 45,313 | $182K | 3.6% | 2.6% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Germantown TN | 40,001 | $150K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Spring Hill TN | 61,336 | $112K | 4.3% | 2.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 740 | Lewiston ME | 38,866 | $55K | 20.0% | 4.8% | 34% | C |
| 741 | Quincy IL | 38,918 | $56K | 16.7% | 4.7% | 53% | C |
| 742 | Cleveland TN | 51,172 | $59K | 16.7% | 6.0% | 37% | C |
| 743 | Butte-Silver Bow MT | 36,118 | $62K | 14.8% | 4.1% | 62% | C |
| 744 | North Little Rock AR | 65,120 | $53K | 20.3% | 5.9% | 21% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 846 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Cleveland, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Next door to Cleveland
The biggest share goes to South Cleveland (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cleveland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland | – | C | B+ | 21 min | $58,559 |
| South Cleveland | 1% | C | C | 22 min | $66,601 |
| East Cleveland | under 1% | C− | C+ | 21 min | $48,878 |
| Hopewell | under 1% | B | D | 22 min | $87,842 |
| Wildwood Lake | under 1% | B− | D− | 22 min | $62,722 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cleveland’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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cleveland: questions
What is the median household income in Cleveland?
$58,559 (±$4,594) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cleveland?
16.7%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cleveland?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cleveland work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (23%, 23 mi), Nashville (4%, 127 mi), Knoxville (3%, 75 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Cleveland walkable?
Cleveland is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cleveland without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cleveland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cleveland
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.