Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0More people are out of work in Karns (9.5%) than in 93% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 21% of workers, against 13% across Tennessee. Karns grades B+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Measured by household income, Karns is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Karns
Karns trades workers with the towns around it
Karns has about as many jobs (1,531) as working residents (1,646), but they are mostly different people: 1,627 residents leave for work each day while 1,512 people come in. Only 1% of the jobs in Karns are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
40% of Karns works in Knoxville
666 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Knoxville, 9 miles away. That’s 40 times as many as work in Karns itself. The commute map ↓
A lot of Karns works from home
21% of Karns 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.
The four measures behind Karns’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Karns is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #43 of 177 in Tennessee. The poverty rate holds Karns’ grade up (3.8%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Karns could be anywhere from B to A+.
In and out of Karns on a workday
On a workday 1,627 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 1,512 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 (0.93 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
40% of working residents work in Knoxville
Where Karns clocks in
40% of workers
13% 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.
Karns’ commute takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Karns workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,332 commuters (the 21% 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.
Goods jobs make up 31% of work in Karns
1,531 jobs are based in Karns.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Karns, 2013 → 2023: 1,183 → 1,531. 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 Karns’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Karns
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.
In Karns, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Karns is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns, #138 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,680 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). 3.1% of Karns households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Karns’ commuters take a bus or train.
Karns is 1,255th of 4,112 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 419 | Coopertown TN | 4,843 | $118K | 9.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,253 | Stillwater Township NJ | 4,072 | $123K | 2.3% | 6.0% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,254 | Mohawk NY | 3,545 | $81K | 8.1% | 0.9% | 15% | B+ |
| 1,255 | Karns TN | 4,115 | $100K | 3.8% | 9.5% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,256 | Circle D-KC Estates TX | 3,135 | $94K | 9.8% | 1.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,257 | Surfside FL | 5,591 | $100K | 9.9% | 5.2% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Karns, 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 Karns: questions
What is the median household income in Karns?
$100,043 (±$10,659) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Karns?
3.8%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Karns?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Karns work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Knoxville (40%, 9 mi), Oak Ridge (13%, 10 mi), Alcoa (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Karns walkable?
Karns is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Karns without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Karns, from the people who make the trip.
More of Karns
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.