Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Newport’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Jobs and income earn Newport C; getting around on foot earns it B+. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. The poverty rate is 27.2%, next to 13.8% for Tennessee as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Newport, in a few figures
Newport is where the jobs are
Newport has 4,846 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Newport’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Newport is Sevierville, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (237) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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 figures behind Newport’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Newport is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #110 of 177 in Tennessee. Unemployment holds Newport’s grade up (0.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($31,250, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Newport could be anywhere from C to C+.
Newport fills up on a workday
On a workday 2,284 residents head out to work, 500 work right here, and 4,346 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,100 people are in Newport on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
Miles to work from Newport
About 19% 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.
The towns that send workers to Newport
Where Newport clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
Jobs in Newport: what the 4,846 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Newport, 2014 → 2024: 5,202 → 4,846. 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 Newport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Newport: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Newport workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,440 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.
For most of Newport, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Newport is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #12 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Newport 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 2,640 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). 7.6% of Newport households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Newport’s commuters take a bus or train.
Newport next to U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,500: 2,397th of 3,227 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 219 | Signal Mountain TN | 8,824 | $141K | 3.3% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 336 | Harrison TN | 8,011 | $89K | 3.9% | 1.4% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 374 | Tellico Village TN | 7,414 | $107K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,395 | Senatobia MS | 8,473 | $54K | 26.4% | 3.0% | 20% | C |
| 2,396 | Bernalillo NM | 9,159 | $64K | 15.9% | 6.9% | 13% | C |
| 2,397 | Newport TN | 7,049 | $31K | 27.2% | 0.6% | 18% | C |
| 2,398 | Newton Township OH | 5,225 | $68K | 8.7% | 6.9% | 5% | C |
| 2,399 | Sharon Township OH | 8,948 | $61K | 13.0% | 4.7% | 15% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,227 | 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 Newport, 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 Newport: questions
What is the median household income in Newport?
$31,250 (±$12,090) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Newport?
27.2%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Newport?
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 Newport work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sevierville (9%, 22 mi), Morristown (8%, 18 mi), Knoxville (8%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Newport walkable?
Newport is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Newport 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 Newport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Newport
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.