Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Household incomes put Jamestown near the very bottom of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 34.0% of residents are in poverty (Tennessee 13.8%). The two grades for Jamestown are D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Jamestown apart
Jamestown has far more jobs than workers
Jamestown has 2,189 jobs, 3.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,700 people are in town, 72% more than the 2,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
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 ↓
Fewer than half of Jamestown workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Jamestown’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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 652 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Jamestown’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Jamestown is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Jamestown’s grade up (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($30,685, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: Jamestown’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Jamestown stays D−.
Who works in Jamestown, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 484 residents head out to work, 168 work right here, and 2,021 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Jamestown on a workday afternoon, 72% more than live here.
3.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The commute from Jamestown, by distance
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Jobs in Jamestown: what the 2,189 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jamestown, 2013 → 2023: 2,880 → 2,189. 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 Jamestown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Jamestown live
Where Jamestown clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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 trip to work from Jamestown: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jamestown workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 895 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.
In Jamestown, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jamestown is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Jamestown 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 933 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). 20.4% of Jamestown households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Jamestown’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900, and where Jamestown sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,215 | Woodsfield OH | 2,127 | $49K | 25.4% | 12.6% | 23% | D− |
| 5,216 | Burns Flat OK | 1,918 | $45K | 25.7% | 6.4% | 6% | D− |
| 5,217 | Jamestown TN | 2,135 | $31K | 34.0% | 2.0% | 26% | D− |
| 5,218 | Jemez Pueblo NM | 2,199 | $56K | 31.4% | 8.5% | 31% | D− |
| 5,219 | Whitesburg KY | 1,609 | $29K | 37.5% | 11.1% | 32% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | 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 Jamestown, 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 Jamestown: questions
What is the median household income in Jamestown?
$30,685 (±$10,300) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jamestown?
34.0%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jamestown?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jamestown work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Crossville (7%, 34 mi), Cookeville (6%, 38 mi), Nashville (6%, 104 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jamestown walkable?
Jamestown is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jamestown without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jamestown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jamestown
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.