Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Powell has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Working residents average 25 minutes each way, where Tennessee has 26 and the U.S. 26. Powell has 2,607 jobs, and 6,122 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Powell A; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Powell, in a few figures
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Powell
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Powell is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #22 of 177 in Tennessee. The poverty rate is its strongest input (4.1%, U.S. 12.5%); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($82,434, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Powell could be anywhere from B to A+.
43% of working residents work in Knoxville
Where Powell clocks in
43% of workers
8% of workers
3% 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.
Powell quiets down on a workday
On a workday 5,938 residents head out to work, 184 work right here, and 2,423 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Powell on a workday afternoon, 26% 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 2023, primary jobs.
In Powell, 29% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Powell, 2013 → 2023: 2,058 → 2,607. 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 Powell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Powell’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Powell workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,280 commuters (the 12% 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 Powell goes to work
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.
Getting around Powell: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Powell is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns, #86 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 7,163 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 56% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.6% of Powell households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Powell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,227 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000, Powell comes 529th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Nolensville TN | 15,789 | $177K | 2.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 197 | Lakeland TN | 14,422 | $116K | 3.2% | 2.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Arlington TN | 15,703 | $135K | 4.9% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 527 | Branchburg Township NJ | 15,511 | $169K | 2.8% | 6.5% | 7% | A |
| 528 | White Marsh MD | 10,932 | $117K | 9.6% | 2.8% | 4% | A |
| 529 | Powell TN | 13,739 | $82K | 4.1% | 2.8% | 3% | A |
| 530 | Miami Springs FL | 13,611 | $87K | 10.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A |
| 531 | Fenton Township MI | 17,408 | $112K | 5.1% | 3.4% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Powell, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Next door is work for 43% of Powell
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Knoxville. Darker towns draw more of Powell’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 Powell: questions
What is the median household income in Powell?
$82,434 (±$8,511) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Powell?
4.1%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Powell?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Powell work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Knoxville (43%, 6 mi), Oak Ridge (8%, 15 mi), Clinton (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Powell walkable?
Powell is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Powell without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Powell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Powell
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.