Photo: Flickr user chiacomo · CC BY 2.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Tiptonville’s
Measured by household income, Tiptonville is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 38.4% of residents (Tennessee 13.8%). The two grades for Tiptonville are D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Tiptonville: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
42% 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 ↓
Tiptonville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Tiptonville is Dyersburg, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (105) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Tiptonville workers work from home
Only 1% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 953 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Tiptonville gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Tiptonville is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #177 of 177 in Tennessee. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Tiptonville’s grade.
Unemployment (7.0%) is left out: Tiptonville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Tiptonville stays D−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Tiptonville
About 42% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Tiptonville’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tiptonville workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 556 commuters (the 1% 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 leaves Tiptonville for work, and who comes in
On a workday 730 residents head out to work, 223 work right here, and 766 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 (1.04 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.
11% of working residents work in Dyersburg
Where Tiptonville clocks in
11% of workers
8% 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 services: health care, schools and offices
989 jobs are based in Tiptonville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tiptonville, 2014 → 2024: 1,330 → 989. 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 Tiptonville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Tiptonville, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tiptonville is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns, #121 of 177 in Tennessee. Both inputs place Tiptonville 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 563 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). 20.7% of Tiptonville households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tiptonville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Tiptonville sits among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 417 | Piperton TN | 2,889 | $130K | 4.6% | 3.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,585 | Presidio TX | 2,909 | $41K | 38.9% | 10.2% | 14% | D− |
| 4,586 | Hawaiian Beaches HI | 3,947 | $29K | 40.4% | 8.8% | 3% | D− |
| 4,587 | Tiptonville TN | 3,333 | $23K | 38.4% | 7.0% | 23% | D− |
| 4,588 | Weldon CA | 2,493 | $35K | 28.9% | 4.2% | 8% | D− |
| 4,589 | Hayfork CA | 2,537 | $44K | 44.3% | 0.0% | 24% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Tiptonville, 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 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 Tiptonville: questions
What is the median household income in Tiptonville?
$23,027 (±$4,444) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tiptonville?
38.4%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tiptonville?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tiptonville work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dyersburg (11%, 23 mi), Memphis (8%, 92 mi), Nashville (6%, 150 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Tiptonville walkable?
Tiptonville is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tiptonville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tiptonville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tiptonville
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.