Whitaker-Motlow House · Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Lynchburg’s household incomes are lower than in 64% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 25 minutes getting to work on average; the Tennessee average is 26, the U.S. 26. Poverty touches 8.0% of residents (Tennessee 13.8%). Lynchburg grades C+ for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Lynchburg
Lynchburg makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Lynchburg are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Lynchburg residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Lynchburg has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Lynchburg went from 1,696 in 2014 to 2,341 in 2024, +38%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Lynchburg’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lynchburg is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #84 of 177 in Tennessee. The poverty rate holds Lynchburg’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lynchburg could be anywhere from C− to B+.
A place that makes things: 41% of Lynchburg’s jobs are in goods
2,341 jobs are based in Lynchburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lynchburg, 2014 → 2024: 1,696 → 2,341. 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 Lynchburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Lynchburg by day
On a workday 2,203 residents head out to work, 644 work right here, and 1,697 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 (0.82 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
14% of working residents work in Tullahoma
Where Lynchburg clocks in
14% of workers
8% 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.
Commuting from Lynchburg: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lynchburg workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,739 commuters (the 8% 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.
How far it is to work from Lynchburg
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Lynchburg, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lynchburg is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns, #166 of 177 in Tennessee. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 3.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,989 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). 5.1% of Lynchburg households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lynchburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lynchburg ranks: 2,092nd of 3,229 U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 216 | Signal Mountain TN | 8,824 | $141K | 3.3% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Harrison TN | 8,011 | $89K | 3.9% | 1.4% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 370 | Tellico Village TN | 7,414 | $107K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,090 | Portage Lakes OH | 5,913 | $64K | 11.9% | 6.5% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,091 | White Oak PA | 7,286 | $59K | 9.8% | 7.0% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,092 | Lynchburg TN | 6,920 | $66K | 8.0% | 4.5% | 23% | C+ |
| 2,093 | Hamlin NY | 8,601 | $84K | 11.5% | 6.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,094 | Desert Palms CA | 6,579 | $80K | 9.6% | 8.3% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Lynchburg, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
14% of Lynchburg works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Tullahoma. Darker towns draw more of Lynchburg’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 Lynchburg: questions
What is the median household income in Lynchburg?
$66,469 (±$7,881) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lynchburg?
8.0%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lynchburg?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lynchburg work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tullahoma (14%, 10 mi), Shelbyville (8%, 16 mi), Nashville (7%, 65 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lynchburg walkable?
Lynchburg is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lynchburg without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lynchburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lynchburg
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.