Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0A job hub: Oak Ridge has 2.9 jobs per working resident, and 35,885 people come in to work
There are 40,862 jobs in Oak Ridge, against 14,231 working residents. The two grades for Oak Ridge are B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in three work in Oak Ridge itself; outside it, Knoxville draws the most (22%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Oak Ridge in brief
Oak Ridge is where the jobs are
Oak Ridge has 40,862 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 62,000 people are in town, 75% more than the 35,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Oak Ridge draws workers from far and wide
The 40,862 jobs in Oak Ridge are filled from a wide area. Oak Ridge’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The jobs in Oak Ridge pay better than its residents’ jobs
78% of the jobs based in Oak Ridge pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 59% of the jobs Oak Ridge residents hold. 88% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Oak Ridge. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Oak Ridge’s workers comes from Knoxville
3,617 of the people who work in Oak Ridge live in Knoxville, 19 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Inside Oak Ridge’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oak Ridge is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #60 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Oak Ridge’s grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oak Ridge could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Who commutes out of Oak Ridge, and who commutes in
On a workday 9,254 residents head out to work and 4,977 work right here.
About 62,000 people are in Oak Ridge on a workday afternoon, 75% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip into Oak Ridge
Where Oak Ridge clocks in
22% of workers
4% 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.
Making and building: 30% of jobs based in Oak Ridge
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oak Ridge, 2013 → 2023: 32,033 → 40,862. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Oak Ridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes to work from Oak Ridge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oak Ridge workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,341 commuters (the 16% 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.
Where in the region Oak Ridge works
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Oak Ridge, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oak Ridge is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #76 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Oak Ridge 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 14,751 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 Oak Ridge households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oak Ridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oak Ridge next to U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000: 771st of 1,219 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Brentwood TN | 45,313 | $182K | 3.6% | 2.6% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Germantown TN | 40,001 | $150K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Farragut TN | 25,121 | $142K | 3.8% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 769 | Salem VA | 25,816 | $67K | 10.2% | 3.6% | 26% | B |
| 770 | Blacksburg VA | 45,104 | $50K | 42.7% | 3.1% | 47% | B |
| 771 | Oak Ridge TN | 35,395 | $72K | 12.2% | 3.8% | 35% | B |
| 772 | New Milford CT | 28,941 | $106K | 7.1% | 8.6% | 21% | B |
| 773 | Stickney Township IL | 40,266 | $78K | 12.1% | 6.3% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Oak Ridge, 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 2023, 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 Oak Ridge: questions
What is the median household income in Oak Ridge?
$72,311 (±$6,124) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oak Ridge?
12.2%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oak Ridge?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oak Ridge work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Knoxville (22%, 19 mi), Clinton (4%, 13 mi), Nashville (3%, 140 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oak Ridge walkable?
Oak Ridge is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oak Ridge 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 Oak Ridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oak Ridge
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.