Households in Lookout Mountain earn more than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Lookout Mountain grades A+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 2.3% of residents are in poverty, against 13.8% across Tennessee. Working from home is the commute for 23% of workers (Tennessee 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Lookout Mountain stands out on work
More than half of Lookout Mountain works in Chattanooga
456 working residents, 61%, have their main job in Chattanooga, 7.6 miles away across the town line. That’s 15 times as many as work in Lookout Mountain itself. The commute map ↓
Most Lookout Mountain residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Lookout Mountain
71% of Lookout Mountain residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 47% of the jobs based in Lookout Mountain pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 746 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Lookout Mountain’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lookout Mountain is among the top U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($201,000, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 76% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.4%) is left out: Lookout Mountain’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, Lookout Mountain stays A+.
61% of working residents work in Chattanooga
Where Lookout Mountain clocks in
61% 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 commute from Lookout Mountain, by distance
About 24% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What Lookout Mountain’s employers do
331 jobs are based in Lookout Mountain.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lookout Mountain, 2014 → 2024: 271 → 331. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lookout Mountain’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Lookout Mountain by day
On a workday 716 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 301 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Lookout Mountain on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.44 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
From Lookout Mountain, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lookout Mountain workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 631 commuters (the 23% 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 Lookout Mountain, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lookout Mountain is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns. 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 820 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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). 1.6% of Lookout Mountain households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lookout Mountain’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lookout Mountain ranks: 62nd of 5,793 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Audubon Park KY | 1,457 | $101K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 61 | New Market MD | 1,609 | $203K | 0.8% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 62 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| 63 | Big Bend WI | 1,498 | $135K | 3.2% | 0.6% | 4% | A+ |
| 64 | River Hills WI | 1,555 | $204K | 5.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 245 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Lookout Mountain, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Work next door: 61% of Lookout Mountain’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lookout Mountain workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lookout Mountain | – | A+ | C+ | 19 min | $201,000 |
| Chattanooga | 61% | C+ | A− | 19 min | $64,523 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Chattanooga. Darker towns draw more of Lookout Mountain’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 2024, 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 Lookout Mountain: questions
What is the median household income in Lookout Mountain?
$201,000 (±$37,337) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lookout Mountain?
2.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lookout Mountain?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lookout Mountain work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (61%, 8 mi), Nashville (4%, 114 mi), Knoxville (3%, 104 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lookout Mountain walkable?
Lookout Mountain is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lookout Mountain without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lookout Mountain, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lookout Mountain
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.