Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Manchester (2.2%) than in 82% of U.S. towns
Manchester grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns. About one in four work in Manchester; the top destination outside it is Tullahoma (9%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Manchester
Manchester is where the jobs are
Manchester has 8,508 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Manchester draws workers from far and wide
The 8,508 jobs in Manchester are filled from a wide area. Manchester’s own residents hold 15% and the ten next-biggest home towns 18%; the other 67% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Manchester
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manchester is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #77 of 177 in Tennessee. Unemployment holds Manchester’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($57,500, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manchester could be anywhere from C to B.
Who commutes out of Manchester, and who commutes in
On a workday 3,812 residents head out to work, 1,249 work right here, and 7,259 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Manchester on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Who travels to work in Manchester, and from where
Where Manchester clocks in
9% of workers
9% 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.
Inside Manchester’s 8,508 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manchester, 2014 → 2024: 8,450 → 8,508. 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 Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Manchester: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manchester workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,744 commuters (the 9% 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 from Manchester, by distance
About 26% 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.
Few in Manchester walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manchester is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #13 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Manchester 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 6,278 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). 3.8% of Manchester households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Manchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000, Manchester ranks 1,497th of 2,227 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Nolensville TN | 15,789 | $177K | 2.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 197 | Lakeland TN | 14,422 | $116K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Arlington TN | 15,703 | $135K | 4.9% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,495 | Bridgeview IL | 16,521 | $67K | 12.8% | 7.6% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,496 | Warsaw IN | 16,130 | $61K | 17.6% | 2.3% | 43% | C+ |
| 1,497 | Manchester TN | 13,776 | $58K | 14.9% | 2.2% | 25% | C+ |
| 1,498 | Brewster MA | 10,457 | $103K | 6.8% | 10.9% | 15% | C+ |
| 1,499 | Chicago Ridge IL | 14,036 | $69K | 20.4% | 5.5% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Manchester, 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 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 Manchester: questions
What is the median household income in Manchester?
$57,500 (±$5,600) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manchester?
14.9%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manchester?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manchester work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tullahoma (9%, 10 mi), Murfreesboro (9%, 33 mi), Nashville (8%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Manchester walkable?
Manchester is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manchester without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manchester
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.