Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Households in La Follette earn less than those in 97% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 28.2%, next to 13.8% for Tennessee as a whole. La Follette grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in seven work in La Follette; the top destination outside it is Knoxville (14%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from La Follette, in brief
La Follette’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside La Follette is Knoxville, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (392) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
La Follette has added jobs fast
Jobs based in La Follette went from 2,609 in 2013 to 3,619 in 2023, +39%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of La Follette workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of La Follette’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 17% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A young workforce
30% of La Follette’s working residents are 29 or younger. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in La Follette
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, La Follette is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #169 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds La Follette’s grade up (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($37,581, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, La Follette could be anywhere from D− to C−.
La Follette’s commute, mile by mile
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.
The kinds of work in La Follette
3,619 jobs are based in La Follette.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Follette, 2013 → 2023: 2,609 → 3,619. 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 La Follette’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of La Follette, and who commutes in
On a workday 2,460 residents head out to work, 390 work right here, and 3,229 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,900 people are in La Follette on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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.
The places La Follette commutes to
Where La Follette clocks in
14% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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.
How long La Follette spends getting to work: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Follette workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,603 commuters (the 6% 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.
La Follette is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, La Follette is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns, #68 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of 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 2,771 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). 13.3% of La Follette households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of La Follette’s commuters take a bus or train.
How La Follette compares with U.S. towns of 5,000 to 9,700
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 219 | Signal Mountain TN | 8,824 | $141K | 3.3% | 2.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Harrison TN | 8,011 | $89K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 375 | Tellico Village TN | 7,414 | $107K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,088 | Houlton ME | 6,056 | $61K | 18.1% | 11.5% | 56% | D |
| 3,089 | Central City KY | 5,793 | $51K | 25.6% | 9.4% | 15% | D |
| 3,090 | La Follette TN | 7,176 | $38K | 28.2% | 7.5% | 14% | D |
| 3,091 | Anadarko OK | 5,448 | $43K | 24.5% | 6.2% | 32% | D |
| 3,092 | Clarkston WA | 7,189 | $54K | 20.7% | 9.6% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,205 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 La Follette, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
The towns around La Follette
The biggest share goes to Jacksboro (7%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | La Follette workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Follette | – | D | B− | 28 min | $37,581 |
| Jacksboro | 7% | C+ | C− | 23 min | $68,750 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of La Follette’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 La Follette: questions
What is the median household income in La Follette?
$37,581 (±$6,183) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Follette?
28.2%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Follette?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Follette work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Knoxville (14%, 29 mi), Clinton (8%, 19 mi), Jacksboro (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is La Follette walkable?
La Follette is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Follette without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from La Follette, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Follette
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.