Photo: ThaesOfereode · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Parsons have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 25.3% of residents, against 13.8% across Tennessee. Parsons grades D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in four stay in Parsons for work; outside it, Lexington is the main destination (9%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Parsons, in a few figures
The four measures behind Parsons’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Parsons is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Parsons’ grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($36,154, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Parsons could be anywhere from D− to C.
The daily flow of workers through Parsons
On a workday 604 residents head out to work, 193 work right here, and 1,999 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,600 people are in Parsons on a workday afternoon, 65% more than live here.
2.8 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where Parsons’ workforce comes from
Where Parsons clocks in
9% of workers
9% of workers
9% 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.
What the 2,192 jobs in Parsons are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parsons, 2013 → 2023: 2,381 → 2,192. 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 Parsons’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Parsons
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parsons workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 864 commuters (the 10% 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 Parsons works
About 29% 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.
In Parsons, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Parsons is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 962 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). 11.3% of Parsons households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Parsons’ commuters take a bus or train.
Parsons and other U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,030 | Saltville VA | 1,760 | $49K | 25.2% | 5.9% | 11% | D− |
| 5,031 | Valle Vista AZ | 2,369 | $46K | 15.2% | 7.7% | 4% | D− |
| 5,032 | Parsons TN | 2,162 | $36K | 25.3% | 7.3% | 24% | D− |
| 5,033 | Stinnett TX | 1,594 | $45K | 20.0% | 3.4% | 7% | D− |
| 5,034 | Andover Township OH | 2,496 | $57K | 26.0% | 10.2% | 14% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Parsons, 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 Parsons: questions
What is the median household income in Parsons?
$36,154 (±$10,568) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parsons?
25.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parsons?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parsons work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (9%, 14 mi), Decaturville (9%, 5 mi), Jackson (9%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parsons walkable?
Parsons is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parsons without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parsons, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parsons
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.