Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Fayetteville has 2.7 jobs for every working resident: 6,533 people commute in to work
There are 7,482 jobs in Fayetteville; 2,804 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Fayetteville C−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Measured by household income, Fayetteville is behind 89% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Fayetteville apart
Fayetteville is where the jobs are
Fayetteville has 7,482 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 12,000 people are in town, 66% more than the 7,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
Fayetteville draws workers from far and wide
The 7,482 jobs in Fayetteville are filled from a wide area. Fayetteville’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 14%; the other 73% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Fayetteville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fayetteville is Huntsville, AL, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (278) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
What’s behind Fayetteville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fayetteville is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #136 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Fayetteville’s grade up (ahead of 49% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($49,223, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fayetteville could be anywhere from D to B−.
A workday in Fayetteville: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,855 residents head out to work and 949 work right here.
About 12,000 people are in Fayetteville on a workday afternoon, 66% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Fayetteville: where workers come from
Where Fayetteville clocks in
10% 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 many miles Fayetteville commutes
About 30% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 32% of the jobs in Fayetteville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayetteville, 2014 → 2024: 7,480 → 7,482. 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 Fayetteville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Fayetteville’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 Fayetteville workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,224 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.
Getting around Fayetteville: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fayetteville is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #65 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 2,420 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). 10.3% of Fayetteville households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fayetteville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fayetteville next to U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,500: 2,751st of 3,227 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 219 | Signal Mountain TN | 8,824 | $141K | 3.3% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 336 | Harrison TN | 8,011 | $89K | 3.9% | 1.4% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 374 | Tellico Village TN | 7,414 | $107K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,749 | Oswego NY | 8,505 | $78K | 18.7% | 15.3% | 9% | C− |
| 2,750 | Wellston OH | 5,488 | $56K | 25.0% | 3.5% | 23% | C− |
| 2,751 | Fayetteville TN | 7,068 | $49K | 16.9% | 5.7% | 34% | C− |
| 2,752 | Demopolis AL | 6,641 | $35K | 26.0% | 1.7% | 32% | C− |
| 2,753 | Coffeyville KS | 8,460 | $46K | 21.1% | 3.2% | 45% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,227 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Fayetteville, 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 Fayetteville: questions
What is the median household income in Fayetteville?
$49,223 (±$6,661) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayetteville?
16.9%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fayetteville?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayetteville work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Huntsville (10%, 32 mi), Nashville (8%, 72 mi), Shelbyville (3%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fayetteville walkable?
Fayetteville is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayetteville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fayetteville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayetteville
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.