Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Making a living in Sunbright
Only 3% work in Sunbright itself; outside it, Oak Ridge draws the most (12%, 29 miles). 6% of workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. A typical one-way commute lasts 41 minutes (Tennessee 26, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sunbright by day and by night
On a workday 188 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 275 people come in from elsewhere.
About 640 people are in Sunbright on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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 Sunbright’s working residents head each day
Where Sunbright clocks in
12% of workers
8% of workers
6% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 33% of the jobs in Sunbright
280 jobs are based in Sunbright.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sunbright, 2013 → 2023: 261 → 280. 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 Sunbright’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 41 minutes in Sunbright
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sunbright workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 237 commuters (the 6% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Sunbright
About 21% 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 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 Sunbright: questions
What is the median household income in Sunbright?
$59,375 (±$4,647) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sunbright?
14.8%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sunbright?
41 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sunbright work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oak Ridge (12%, 29 mi), Knoxville (8%, 45 mi), Wartburg (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Sunbright without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sunbright, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sunbright
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.