Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Sewanee are higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
About one in three stay in Sewanee for work; outside it, Nashville is the main destination (8%, 83 miles). 12.0% of residents live below the poverty line; Tennessee has 13.8%. Sewanee grades B+ 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
Sewanee and work: the main findings
Sewanee’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Sewanee is Nashville, 83 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (63) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Sewanee are quick
The average trip to work takes 10 minutes, against 26 across Tennessee. That’s about 123 hours a year less on the road than the typical Tennessee worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 755 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Sewanee
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sewanee is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #45 of 177 in Tennessee. Unemployment holds Sewanee’s grade up (1.0%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sewanee could be anywhere from C+ to A.
How far Sewanee’s workers travel
About 40% 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.
Time on the road from Sewanee: about 10 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sewanee workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,167 commuters (the 13% 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.
Who commutes out of Sewanee, and who commutes in
On a workday 520 residents head out to work, 235 work right here, and 686 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 (1.22 per resident).
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 the trip to work from Sewanee ends
Where Sewanee clocks in
6% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Sewanee
921 jobs are based in Sewanee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sewanee, 2013 → 2023: 1,034 → 921. 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 Sewanee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Sewanee walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sewanee is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #27 of 177 in Tennessee. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 42.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,336 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). 0.0% of Sewanee households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sewanee’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sewanee is 1,243rd of 4,618 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 249 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 378 | Piperton TN | 2,889 | $130K | 4.6% | 3.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,241 | Frelinghuysen Township NJ | 2,239 | $123K | 3.8% | 6.8% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,242 | Ridgemark CA | 3,403 | $130K | 4.6% | 4.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,243 | Sewanee TN | 2,936 | $136K | 12.0% | 1.0% | 31% | B+ |
| 1,244 | Ault CO | 2,667 | $95K | 4.9% | 4.7% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,245 | Rollinsford NH | 2,621 | $90K | 4.8% | 3.9% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Sewanee, 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 Sewanee: questions
What is the median household income in Sewanee?
$136,111 (±$39,569) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sewanee?
12.0%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sewanee?
10 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sewanee work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (8%, 83 mi), Winchester (6%, 10 mi), Monteagle (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sewanee walkable?
Sewanee is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 42% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sewanee without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sewanee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sewanee
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.