Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Cowan has lower household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
6% of workers work from home; Tennessee has 13%. 30.8% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.8% for Tennessee as a whole. For jobs and income Cowan is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Cowan apart
Cowan is a place people come home to
There are 95 jobs based in Cowan, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Cowan has about 1,200 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Cowan and Winchester trade workers both ways
Winchester is the top workplace for Cowan residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Cowan come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 735 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Cowan
Job access by car holds Cowan’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (10.5%) is left out: Cowan’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, Cowan could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who leaves Cowan for work, and who comes in
On a workday 731 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 91 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Cowan on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.
0.13 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
24% of working residents work in Winchester
Where Cowan clocks in
24% of workers
9% 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 far Cowan goes to work
About 36% 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.
Cowan makes things: 55% of its jobs are in goods
95 jobs are based in Cowan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cowan, 2014 → 2024: 143 → 95. 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 Cowan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Cowan’s commute takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cowan workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 637 commuters (the 6% 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.
In Cowan, the car does most of the work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 675 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). 4.7% of Cowan households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cowan’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400, and where Cowan sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 187 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 220 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,824 | Granby MO | 2,113 | $49K | 25.6% | 13.7% | 4% | D |
| 4,825 | Vale OR | 2,055 | $50K | 16.4% | 4.8% | 26% | D |
| 4,826 | Cowan TN | 1,799 | $46K | 30.8% | 10.5% | 1% | D |
| 4,827 | Louisville Township IL | 1,640 | $55K | 28.1% | 8.9% | 15% | D |
| 4,828 | Morgan Township OH | 1,357 | $62K | 27.2% | 4.4% | <1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | 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 Cowan, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
The towns next door employ 24% of Cowan
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cowan workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowan | – | D | C | 28 min | $46,406 |
| Winchester | 24% | C | C− | 21 min | $62,782 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Winchester. Darker towns draw more of Cowan’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 Cowan: questions
What is the median household income in Cowan?
$46,406 (±$14,251) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cowan?
30.8%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cowan?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cowan work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Winchester (24%, 6 mi), Smyrna (9%, 63 mi), Nashville (8%, 82 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Cowan walkable?
Cowan is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cowan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cowan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cowan
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.