Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Harriman has lower household incomes than 93% of U.S. towns
At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (Tennessee 13%). Poverty touches 21.2% of residents (Tennessee 13.8%). The two grades for Harriman are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Harriman in brief
Harriman trades workers with the towns around it
Harriman has about as many jobs (2,562) as working residents (2,404), but they are mostly different people: 2,196 residents leave for work each day while 2,354 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Harriman are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Harriman workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
Harriman’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Harriman is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #128 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Harriman’s grade up (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($44,653, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Harriman could be anywhere from D to B−.
Harriman by day and by night
On a workday 2,196 residents head out to work, 208 work right here, and 2,354 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 (1.07 per resident).
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 trip to work from Harriman: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harriman workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,129 commuters (the 4% 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.
16% of working residents work in Oak Ridge
Where Harriman clocks in
16% of workers
15% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Harriman
2,562 jobs are based in Harriman.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harriman, 2014 → 2024: 2,398 → 2,562. 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 Harriman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Harriman, by distance
About 17% 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.
In Harriman, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harriman is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #17 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Harriman 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 2,227 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). 14.9% of Harriman households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harriman’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Harriman is 2,760th among 3,432 U.S. towns of 4,300 to 8,400
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Harrison TN | 8,011 | $89K | 3.9% | 1.4% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,758 | Canteen Township IL | 7,714 | $50K | 27.1% | 7.1% | 5% | C− |
| 2,759 | Morton Township MI | 4,766 | $73K | 17.4% | 4.3% | 9% | C− |
| 2,760 | Harriman TN | 6,192 | $45K | 21.2% | 4.3% | 9% | C− |
| 2,761 | Green Township OH | 5,337 | $60K | 20.7% | 3.0% | 19% | C− |
| 2,762 | Rockland ME | 7,142 | $57K | 10.4% | 6.6% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | 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 Harriman, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Next door to Harriman
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Harriman’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 Harriman: questions
What is the median household income in Harriman?
$44,653 (±$13,160) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harriman?
21.2%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harriman?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harriman work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oak Ridge (16%, 15 mi), Knoxville (15%, 34 mi), Kingston (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Harriman walkable?
Harriman is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harriman without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harriman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harriman
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.