Hermitage Hotel · Photo: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0Where Nashville earns its living
For jobs and income Nashville is better than 60% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (A−). More than half work in Nashville itself; outside it, Franklin draws the most (5%, 18 miles). Working from home is the commute for 20% of workers, next to 13% for Tennessee as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Nashville
How Nashville earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Nashville’s grade up (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Nashville stays B.
The daily flow of workers through Nashville
On a workday 124,431 residents head out to work, 198,797 work right here, and 319,134 people come in from elsewhere.
About 941,000 people are in Nashville on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.6 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 the people who work in Nashville live
Where Nashville clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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.
71% of the jobs in Nashville pay over $3,333 a month
517,931 jobs are based in Nashville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nashville, 2014 → 2024: 401,992 → 517,931. 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 Nashville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Nashville: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nashville workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 314,647 commuters (the 20% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Nashville
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Nashville
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 394,905 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 59% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 19% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 7.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 90% 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). 6.5% of Nashville households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Nashville’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
9th of 26: where Nashville ranks among U.S. towns of 522,000 to 1,007,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hempstead NY | 795,734 | $141K | 5.9% | 5.2% | 28% | A |
| 2 | San Jose CA | 989,814 | $146K | 8.1% | 5.1% | 36% | A− |
| 3 | Seattle WA | 784,777 | $124K | 9.9% | 4.6% | 58% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Charlotte NC | 964,784 | $82K | 11.7% | 4.6% | 62% | B |
| 8 | Washington DC | 693,645 | $110K | 15.4% | 6.3% | 69% | B |
| 9 | Nashville TN | 745,904 | $78K | 13.9% | 4.5% | 62% | B |
| 10 | Portland OR | 635,109 | $91K | 12.7% | 5.8% | 58% | B |
| 11 | Boston MA | 672,973 | $97K | 16.6% | 6.1% | 54% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Memphis TN | 609,647 | $52K | 23.1% | 8.3% | 71% | C− |
| 26 | Detroit MI | 649,095 | $40K | 32.7% | 14.0% | 31% | C− |
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 Nashville, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Around Nashville: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Brentwood (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Nashville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville | – | B | A− | 25 min | $77,853 |
| La Vergne | 2% | B+ | C− | 32 min | $81,313 |
| Millersville | under 2% | B− | C− | 22 min | $71,789 |
| Hendersonville | under 2% | A− | C+ | 30 min | $97,200 |
| Goodlettsville | 1% | B− | C+ | 26 min | $70,758 |
| Rural Hill | under 2% | A− | D | 34 min | $108,250 |
| Brentwood | 4% | A+ | C | 26 min | $182,088 |
| Ashland City | under 2% | A− | C | 30 min | $79,231 |
| Green Hill | under 2% | B+ | C− | 29 min | $91,818 |
| Coopertown | under 2% | A | D | 31 min | $118,241 |
| Mount Juliet | 1% | A | C+ | 30 min | $107,068 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Nashville’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 Nashville: questions
What is the median household income in Nashville?
$77,853 (±$1,253) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nashville?
13.9%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nashville?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nashville work?
62% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Franklin (5%, 18 mi), Berry Hill (5%, 4 mi), Brentwood (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Nashville walkable?
Nashville is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nashville without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 19% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nashville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nashville
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.