Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) · CC BY 3.0For about half of its working residents, Rossville is a commute to Memphis
Household incomes here are higher than in 88% of U.S. towns. Rossville grades A for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 1% stay in Rossville for work; outside it, Memphis is the main destination (48%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Rossville: the figures worth knowing
Nearly half of Rossville works in Memphis
288 working residents, 48%, have their main job in Memphis, 24 miles away. That’s 48 times as many as work in Rossville itself. The commute map ↓
Rossville makes and builds things
47% of the jobs based in Rossville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Rossville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Rossville’s workforce skews older
43% of Rossville’s working residents are 55 or older. That’s about two in five. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 594 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Rossville’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Rossville is better than 85% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($120,357, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (7.3%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (6.1%) is left out: Rossville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Rossville could be anywhere from B to A+.
Where the trip to work from Rossville ends
Where Rossville clocks in
48% of workers
18% 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.
Rossville works in goods: 47% of its jobs
481 jobs are based in Rossville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rossville, 2014 → 2024: 693 → 481. 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 Rossville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Rossville, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 588 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 475 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.81 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
About 29 minutes to work from Rossville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rossville workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 500 commuters (the 18% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Rossville
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.
Few in Rossville walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rossville is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 607 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). 3.7% of Rossville households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rossville’s commuters take a bus or train.
289th of 4,312: where Rossville ranks among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 287 | Sundre Township ND | 1,024 | $107K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 288 | Alto WI | 1,046 | $106K | 1.0% | 0.9% | 4% | A |
| 289 | Rossville TN | 1,215 | $120K | 7.3% | 6.1% | 1% | A |
| 290 | Newburg WI | 1,129 | $78K | 2.3% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| 291 | Poygan WI | 1,297 | $98K | 2.9% | 0.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 631 | Orlinda TN | 1,028 | $84K | 6.4% | 3.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 708 | Unionville TN | 1,275 | $71K | 1.4% | 0.0% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 990 | Powells Crossroads TN | 1,296 | $68K | 4.5% | 3.1% | 0% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Rossville, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
The towns around Rossville
The biggest share goes to Piperton (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Rossville’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 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 Rossville: questions
What is the median household income in Rossville?
$120,357 (±$27,506) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rossville?
7.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rossville?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rossville work?
1% work in town.
Is Rossville walkable?
Rossville is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rossville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rossville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rossville
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. 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.