Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0A job hub: Sparta has 2.8 jobs per working resident, and 4,862 people come in to work
There are 5,377 jobs in Sparta, and 1,891 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Sparta is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (C−). Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Sparta
Sparta is where the jobs are
Sparta has 5,377 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 8,500 people are in town, 69% more than the 5,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Sparta draws workers from far and wide
The 5,377 jobs in Sparta are filled from a wide area. Sparta’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 12%; the other 78% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Sparta are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across Tennessee. That’s about 69 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
32% 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.
Jobs & income in Sparta: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Sparta’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,080, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sparta could be anywhere from D to C+.
Who leaves Sparta for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,376 residents head out to work and 515 work right here.
About 8,500 people are in Sparta on a workday afternoon, 69% 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.
Where Sparta’s workforce comes from
Where Sparta clocks in
19% of workers
2% 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.
About 17 minutes each way for Sparta’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sparta workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,822 commuters (the 9% 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 it is to work from Sparta
About 32% 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.
What Sparta’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sparta, 2013 → 2023: 4,440 → 5,377. 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 Sparta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Sparta: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,003 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). 6.5% of Sparta households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sparta’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sparta next to U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800: 3,312th of 3,758 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 438 | Coopertown TN | 4,843 | $118K | 9.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,310 | Vidalia LA | 3,925 | $48K | 18.7% | 5.3% | 21% | D |
| 3,311 | Plymouth PA | 5,801 | $39K | 24.1% | 6.8% | 5% | D |
| 3,312 | Sparta TN | 5,038 | $50K | 14.3% | 7.8% | 27% | D |
| 3,313 | Baxter Springs KS | 3,823 | $51K | 24.3% | 5.6% | 22% | D |
| 3,314 | North Wilkesboro NC | 4,369 | $38K | 23.8% | 4.8% | 15% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | 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 Sparta, 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 Sparta: questions
What is the median household income in Sparta?
$50,080 (±$9,260) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sparta?
14.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sparta?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sparta work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cookeville (19%, 15 mi), Nashville (7%, 75 mi), Chattanooga (2%, 61 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sparta walkable?
Sparta is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sparta without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sparta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sparta
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.