Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Households in Etowah earn less than those in 96% of U.S. towns
5% of workers have no commute at all (Tennessee 13%). 15.4% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Tennessee. The two grades for Etowah are D for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Etowah: the gist
Jobs & income in Etowah: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Etowah is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #161 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Etowah’s grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($39,291, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Etowah could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Etowah’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Etowah workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,097 commuters (the 5% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Etowah
On a workday 1,320 residents head out to work, 145 work right here, and 1,034 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 (0.80 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.
23% of working residents work in Athens
Where Etowah clocks in
23% of workers
9% 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 Etowah’s employers do
1,179 jobs are based in Etowah.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Etowah, 2013 → 2023: 1,360 → 1,179. 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 Etowah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Etowah
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.
Getting around Etowah: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Etowah is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns, #115 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.2% 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 1,150 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). 5.4% of Etowah households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Etowah’s commuters take a bus or train.
Etowah and other U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,100
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 394 | Piperton TN | 2,889 | $130K | 4.6% | 3.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,857 | Blackshear GA | 3,680 | $41K | 23.3% | 5.8% | 18% | D |
| 3,858 | Aberdeen MS | 4,799 | $33K | 28.2% | 5.7% | 21% | D |
| 3,859 | Etowah TN | 3,786 | $39K | 15.4% | 11.1% | 10% | D |
| 3,860 | Longtown OK | 2,716 | $56K | 15.1% | 5.1% | 6% | D |
| 3,861 | Lake of the Woods AZ | 3,250 | $56K | 12.8% | 15.3% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,153 | 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 Etowah, 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 Etowah: questions
What is the median household income in Etowah?
$39,291 (±$10,909) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Etowah?
15.4%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Etowah?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Etowah work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Athens (23%, 9 mi), Cleveland (9%, 22 mi), Chattanooga (8%, 45 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Etowah walkable?
Etowah is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Etowah 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 Etowah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Etowah
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.