Photo: Dclemens1971 · CC BY 4.0Fairmount’s household incomes are higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 3.7% of residents (Tennessee 13.8%). Fairmount grades A for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. For 27% of workers, the job is at home, against 13% across Tennessee.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Fairmount apart
More than half of Fairmount works in Chattanooga
495 working residents, 59%, have their main job in Chattanooga, 9.5 miles away. That’s 59 times as many as work in Fairmount itself. The commute map ↓
Fairmount is a place people come home to
There are 134 jobs based in Fairmount, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Fairmount has about 1,400 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Fairmount works from home
27% of Fairmount workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. Time on the road ↓
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; with 836 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Fairmount’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Fairmount is better than 94% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($137,317, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Fairmount’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, Fairmount could be anywhere from A to A+.
59% of working residents work in Chattanooga
Where Fairmount clocks in
59% of workers
7% 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 a workday changes Fairmount
On a workday 829 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 127 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Fairmount on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.16 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 2023, primary jobs.
Each way, about 27 minutes from Fairmount
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairmount workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 671 commuters (the 27% 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.
What Fairmount’s employers do
134 jobs are based in Fairmount.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairmount, 2013 → 2023: 97 → 134. 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 Fairmount’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Fairmount’s workers travel
About 20% 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.
Fairmount is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairmount is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Fairmount 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 917 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Fairmount households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fairmount’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fairmount ranks: 221st of 5,148 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 219 | Peru Township OH | 1,534 | $125K | 4.0% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| 220 | Rutland WI | 1,910 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.6% | 1% | A |
| 221 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 222 | Hudson IL | 1,750 | $110K | 2.3% | 1.5% | 1% | A |
| 223 | Thomaston NY | 2,776 | $158K | 7.4% | 3.2% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | 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 Fairmount, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
How Fairmount compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Signal Mountain (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fairmount workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairmount | – | A | C+ | 27 min | $137,317 |
| Signal Mountain | 7% | A+ | B− | 28 min | $141,008 |
| Walden | 1% | A | B | 25 min | $124,493 |
| Lone Oak | under 1% | C− | D− | 31 min | $40,781 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fairmount’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 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 Fairmount: questions
What is the median household income in Fairmount?
$137,317 (±$13,682) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairmount?
3.7%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairmount?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairmount work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (59%, 10 mi), Signal Mountain (7%, 3 mi), Nashville (3%, 106 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fairmount walkable?
Fairmount is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairmount without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairmount, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairmount
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.