Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Oakdale has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Hardly any stay in Oakdale for work; outside it, Oak Ridge is the main destination (22%, 15 miles). 8 jobs are based in Oakdale, against 82 working residents. 0% of workers work from home, where Tennessee as a whole has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Oakdale
On a workday 82 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 8 people come in from elsewhere.
About 130 people are in Oakdale on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.
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 Oakdale goes to work
Where Oakdale clocks in
22% of workers
16% of workers
7% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Oakdale
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakdale, 2014 → 2024: 9 → 8. 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 Oakdale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Oakdale: about 56 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 18 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakdale workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 60 commuters (the 0% 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.
How far it is to work from Oakdale
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.
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 Oakdale: questions
What is the median household income in Oakdale?
$62,083 (±$28,942) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakdale?
13.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakdale?
56 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakdale work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oak Ridge (22%, 15 mi), Knoxville (16%, 34 mi), Wartburg (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Oakdale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakdale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakdale
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.