Photo: AppalachianCentrist · CC BY-SA 4.0Morristown’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 26.0% of residents; Tennessee has 13.8%. Morristown grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. For 3% of workers, the job is at home, against 13% across Tennessee.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Morristown
Morristown is where the jobs are
Morristown has 30,036 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 52,000 people are in town, 55% more than the 34,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Morristown draws workers from far and wide
The 30,036 jobs in Morristown are filled from a wide area. Morristown’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 10%; the other 73% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Morristown’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Morristown is Knoxville, 40 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (936) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Morristown workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Morristown makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Morristown are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Morristown residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. 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.
The four measures behind Morristown’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Morristown is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #148 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Morristown’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Morristown could be anywhere from D to C.
The workday shuffle in and out of Morristown
On a workday 6,423 residents head out to work, 5,048 work right here, and 24,988 people come in from elsewhere.
About 52,000 people are in Morristown on a workday afternoon, 55% more than live here.
2.6 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.
Where Morristown’s workers come from
Where Morristown clocks in
8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Morristown
About 20% 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.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Morristown
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Morristown workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,325 commuters (the 3% 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 Morristown, 35% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
30,036 jobs are based in Morristown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Morristown, 2014 → 2024: 27,201 → 30,036. 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 Morristown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Morristown start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Morristown is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns, #52 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 12,744 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). 7.5% of Morristown households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Morristown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Morristown and other U.S. towns of 23,000 to 45,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Germantown TN | 40,001 | $150K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Farragut TN | 25,121 | $142K | 3.8% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 494 | Maryville TN | 32,442 | $82K | 6.7% | 3.0% | 26% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,270 | Paris TX | 25,205 | $47K | 26.0% | 5.3% | 48% | D |
| 1,271 | Duncan OK | 23,238 | $58K | 20.5% | 6.8% | 45% | D |
| 1,272 | Morristown TN | 33,517 | $48K | 26.0% | 7.1% | 44% | D |
| 1,273 | Marshall TX | 24,467 | $55K | 22.4% | 8.1% | 29% | D |
| 1,274 | Muskegon MI | 37,224 | $45K | 24.9% | 9.4% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,315 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Morristown, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Around Morristown: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Morristown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morristown | – | D | B− | 22 min | $47,917 |
| Russellville | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Jefferson City | 3% | C | B+ | 27 min | $60,638 |
Same-state neighbors only. Russellville: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Jefferson City. Darker towns draw more of Morristown’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 Morristown: questions
What is the median household income in Morristown?
$47,917 (±$5,864) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Morristown?
26.0%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Morristown?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Morristown work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Knoxville (8%, 40 mi), Jefferson City (3%, 12 mi), Nashville (3%, 194 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Morristown walkable?
Morristown is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Morristown without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Morristown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Morristown
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.