Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Households in Oneida have lower incomes than those in 89% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Oneida are D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 28.1% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.8% for Tennessee as a whole. Home is the office for 5% of workers (Tennessee 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Oneida
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oneida is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #170 of 177 in Tennessee. Unemployment holds Oneida’s grade up (5.3%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oneida could be anywhere from D− to C.
A workday in Oneida: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,272 residents head out to work, 290 work right here, and 1,669 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,300 people are in Oneida on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Huntsville
Where Oneida clocks in
19% of workers
8% 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.
Inside Oneida’s 1,959 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oneida, 2013 → 2023: 2,032 → 1,959. 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 Oneida’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Oneida: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oneida workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,424 commuters (the 5% 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.
The distance from Oneida to work
About 24% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Oneida is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oneida is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns, #88 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 1,498 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). 4.9% of Oneida households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oneida’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Oneida sits among U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 419 | Piperton TN | 2,889 | $130K | 4.6% | 3.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,128 | Monticello GA | 3,040 | $49K | 16.3% | 14.3% | 22% | D |
| 4,129 | Buffalo MO | 3,550 | $40K | 22.3% | 7.5% | 17% | D |
| 4,130 | Oneida TN | 3,899 | $49K | 28.1% | 5.3% | 19% | D |
| 4,131 | Colorado City TX | 3,884 | $53K | 16.6% | 9.3% | 28% | D |
| 4,132 | Westfield NY | 2,888 | $47K | 15.3% | 11.7% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,364 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Oneida, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Around Oneida: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Oneida’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 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 Oneida: questions
What is the median household income in Oneida?
$48,622 (±$8,498) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oneida?
28.1%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oneida?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oneida work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Huntsville (19%, 7 mi), Knoxville (8%, 49 mi), Helenwood (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oneida walkable?
Oneida is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oneida 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 Oneida, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oneida
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.