Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 3.0Selmer has 1.9 jobs for every working resident: 2,787 people commute in to work
3,260 jobs are based in Selmer, and 1,733 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Selmer C−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Measured by household income, Selmer is behind 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Selmer
Selmer is where the jobs are
Selmer has 3,260 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Selmer’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Selmer is Jackson, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (208) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Selmer makes and builds things
38% of the jobs based in Selmer are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Selmer residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 33%. The jobs ↓
Few Selmer workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
How Selmer earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Selmer is better than 21% of U.S. towns, #132 of 177 in Tennessee. Unemployment holds Selmer’s grade up (3.4%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Selmer could be anywhere from D to B−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Selmer
On a workday 1,260 residents head out to work and 473 work right here.
About 6,100 people are in Selmer on a workday afternoon, 33% more 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.
Selmer’s commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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.
Selmer makes things: 38% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Selmer, 2013 → 2023: 3,527 → 3,260. 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 Selmer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way for Selmer’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Selmer workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,627 commuters (the 4% 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 Selmer’s workers come from
Where Selmer clocks in
12% of workers
5% 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.
Getting around Selmer: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Selmer is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #79 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Selmer 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 1,688 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). 8.9% of Selmer households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Selmer’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Selmer ranks: 3,153rd of 3,938 U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,200
| # | 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 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 423 | Coopertown TN | 4,843 | $118K | 9.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,151 | Elmira Heights NY | 3,716 | $58K | 24.6% | 5.4% | 4% | C− |
| 3,152 | Glassport PA | 4,251 | $48K | 15.9% | 15.0% | 4% | C− |
| 3,153 | Selmer TN | 4,575 | $52K | 23.6% | 3.4% | 27% | C− |
| 3,154 | Redstone Township PA | 4,831 | $60K | 12.0% | 10.6% | 5% | C− |
| 3,155 | Cordes Lakes AZ | 3,808 | $62K | 10.9% | 4.6% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,938 | 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 Selmer, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Around Selmer: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Selmer workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selmer | – | C− | C+ | 22 min | $51,591 |
| Eastview | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Bethel Springs | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Eastview and Bethel Springs: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Selmer’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 Selmer: questions
What is the median household income in Selmer?
$51,591 (±$11,212) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Selmer?
23.6%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Selmer?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Selmer work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (12%, 36 mi), Memphis (5%, 78 mi), Nashville (5%, 123 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Selmer walkable?
Selmer is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Selmer without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Selmer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Selmer
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.