Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Kimball draws 1,534 commuters a day, with 2.5 jobs for every working resident
Only 7% work in Kimball itself; outside it, Chattanooga draws the most (25%, 24 miles). There are 1,578 jobs in Kimball, and 641 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Kimball B−; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Kimball: the figures worth knowing
Kimball is where the jobs are
Kimball has 1,578 jobs, 2.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,600 people are in town, 57% more than the 1,600 who live here. Day and night ↓
Kimball’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Kimball is Chattanooga, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 25% of working residents (161) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
35% of the jobs based in Kimball are held by workers 29 or younger, against 23% of Kimball’s own working residents. 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 641 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Kimball
On income, poverty and job access, Kimball is better than 47% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Kimball’s grade up (6.9%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($60,543, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Kimball’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Kimball could be anywhere from C to B.
The daily commute in and out of Kimball
On a workday 597 residents head out to work and 44 work right here.
About 2,600 people are in Kimball on a workday afternoon, 57% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Kimball
About 23% 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.
Making and building: 34% of jobs based in Kimball
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kimball, 2013 → 2023: 1,439 → 1,578. 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 Kimball’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Kimball
Where Kimball clocks in
25% of workers
11% of workers
11% 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.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Kimball
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kimball workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 720 commuters (the 7% 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.
The commute in Kimball is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kimball is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Kimball 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 772 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). 9.8% of Kimball households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kimball’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200, Kimball ranks 2,472nd of 6,161 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 202 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 232 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,470 | Frankton IN | 1,827 | $69K | 9.2% | 3.3% | 6% | B− |
| 2,471 | Wapello IA | 1,979 | $73K | 6.4% | 3.5% | 16% | B− |
| 2,472 | Kimball TN | 1,633 | $61K | 6.9% | 1.0% | 7% | B− |
| 2,473 | Niederwald TX | 1,168 | $78K | 26.9% | 3.0% | 1% | B− |
| 2,474 | Liberty Township OH | 1,437 | $68K | 6.2% | 0.3% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Kimball, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Bordering towns draw 22% of Kimball’s workers
The biggest share goes to Jasper (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kimball workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimball | – | B− | B | 26 min | $60,543 |
| Jasper | 11% | B− | C− | 31 min | $73,013 |
| South Pittsburg | 11% | D | B− | 26 min | $57,865 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Kimball’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 Kimball: questions
What is the median household income in Kimball?
$60,543 (±$11,856) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kimball?
6.9%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kimball?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kimball work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (25%, 24 mi), South Pittsburg (11%, 4 mi), Jasper (11%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kimball walkable?
Kimball is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kimball 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 Kimball, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kimball
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.