Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Pulaski are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Pulaski for work; outside it, Nashville is the main destination (9%, 69 miles). 25.7% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Tennessee. The two grades for Pulaski are D for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Pulaski and work: the main findings
Pulaski’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pulaski is Nashville, 69 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (300) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Pulaski is where the jobs are
Pulaski has 6,911 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 12,000 people are in town, 40% more than the 8,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
Pulaski draws workers from far and wide
The 6,911 jobs in Pulaski are filled from a wide area. Pulaski’s own residents hold 18% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Pulaski makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Pulaski are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Pulaski residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
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.
The figures behind Pulaski’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pulaski is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #162 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Pulaski’s grade up (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pulaski could be anywhere from D− to C.
The commute from Pulaski, by distance
About 30% 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 daily commute in and out of Pulaski
On a workday 2,314 residents head out to work, 1,215 work right here, and 5,696 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Pulaski on a workday afternoon, 40% more than live here.
2.0 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.
The towns that send workers to Pulaski
Where Pulaski clocks in
5% 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.
Pulaski works in goods: 36% of its jobs
6,911 jobs are based in Pulaski.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pulaski, 2013 → 2023: 6,466 → 6,911. 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 Pulaski’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Pulaski: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pulaski workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,073 commuters (the 7% 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.
For most of Pulaski, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pulaski is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #37 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Pulaski 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 3,304 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). 7.8% of Pulaski households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pulaski’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Pulaski compares with U.S. towns of 5,900 to 11,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 226 | Signal Mountain TN | 8,824 | $141K | 3.3% | 2.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 331 | Harrison TN | 8,011 | $89K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 377 | Tellico Village TN | 7,414 | $107K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,823 | Peru IN | 10,962 | $46K | 23.6% | 9.1% | 25% | D |
| 2,824 | Cushing OK | 8,390 | $44K | 22.0% | 5.6% | 24% | D |
| 2,825 | Pulaski TN | 8,394 | $49K | 25.7% | 7.2% | 34% | D |
| 2,826 | Covington TN | 8,585 | $42K | 29.2% | 8.8% | 31% | D |
| 2,827 | Opp AL | 6,738 | $41K | 26.3% | 5.2% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,947 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Pulaski, 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 Pulaski: questions
What is the median household income in Pulaski?
$48,538 (±$8,117) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pulaski?
25.7%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pulaski?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pulaski work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (9%, 69 mi), Lawrenceburg (5%, 17 mi), Columbia (4%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pulaski walkable?
Pulaski is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pulaski without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pulaski, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pulaski
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.