Photo: Mrgriffter · CC BY-SA 4.0Johnson City draws 38,933 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
The two grades for Johnson City are C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. There are 50,749 jobs in Johnson City, and 26,986 of its residents work somewhere. Household incomes here are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Johnson City at work: what stands out
Johnson City is where the jobs are
Johnson City has 50,749 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Johnson City are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 26 across Tennessee. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Tennessee worker. Time on the road ↓
The biggest group of Johnson City’s workers comes from Kingsport
3,074 of the people who work in Johnson City live in Kingsport, 15 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Johnson City draws workers from far and wide
The 50,749 jobs in Johnson City are filled from a wide area. Johnson City’s own residents hold 23% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 57% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
The figures behind Johnson City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Johnson City is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #120 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Johnson City’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Johnson City could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Johnson City by day and by night
On a workday 15,170 residents head out to work and 11,816 work right here.
About 99,000 people are in Johnson City on a workday afternoon, 32% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Time on the road from Johnson City: 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 Johnson City workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 30,393 commuters (the 13% 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.
Commuting in to Johnson City: where workers come from
Where Johnson City 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.
The kinds of work in Johnson City
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Johnson City, 2013 → 2023: 43,697 → 50,749. 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 Johnson City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Johnson City
About 18% 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 Johnson City: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Johnson City is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #29 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Johnson City 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 34,748 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). 7.3% of Johnson City households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Johnson City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Johnson City sits among U.S. towns of 52,000 to 101,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Franklin TN | 90,226 | $120K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 31% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Spring Hill TN | 61,336 | $112K | 4.3% | 2.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Bartlett TN | 56,416 | $102K | 5.1% | 3.4% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 541 | Wilmington DE | 73,512 | $59K | 21.4% | 7.3% | 21% | C |
| 542 | Lynchburg VA | 81,347 | $58K | 18.6% | 5.3% | 48% | C |
| 543 | Johnson City TN | 74,943 | $57K | 20.3% | 5.6% | 44% | C |
| 544 | Mission TX | 88,992 | $61K | 19.4% | 7.8% | 21% | C |
| 545 | Pine Hills FL | 80,105 | $59K | 17.5% | 11.6% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 599 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Johnson City, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Around Johnson City: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Oak Grove (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Johnson City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson City | – | C | B+ | 19 min | $57,254 |
| Gray | under 2% | B | C− | 29 min | $69,947 |
| Pine Crest | under 2% | C+ | B+ | 26 min | $53,537 |
| Oak Grove | 4% | B− | D | 26 min | $72,143 |
| Spurgeon | under 2% | B− | C | 20 min | $64,250 |
| Central | under 2% | C | D− | 19 min | $37,444 |
| Watauga | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Elizabethton | 3% | C− | B | 21 min | $46,975 |
Same-state neighbors only. Watauga: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Johnson City’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 Johnson City: questions
What is the median household income in Johnson City?
$57,254 (±$2,942) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Johnson City?
20.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Johnson City?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Johnson City work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kingsport (10%, 15 mi), Oak Grove (4%, 6 mi), Elizabethton (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Johnson City walkable?
Johnson City is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Johnson City without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Johnson City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Johnson City
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.