Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Households in Unicoi earn less than those in 95% of U.S. towns
21.3% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.8% for Tennessee as a whole. The two grades for Unicoi are C− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Only 4% work in Unicoi; the top destination outside it is Johnson City (30%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Unicoi in brief
Unicoi and Johnson City trade workers both ways
Johnson City is the top workplace for Unicoi residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Unicoi come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Unicoi makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Unicoi are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Unicoi residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 23%. The jobs ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Unicoi
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Unicoi is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #135 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Unicoi’s grade up (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($42,424, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Unicoi could be anywhere from D to B−.
Where Unicoi goes to work
Where Unicoi clocks in
30% of workers
13% 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.
Goods, not services: 43% of the jobs in Unicoi
655 jobs are based in Unicoi.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Unicoi, 2014 → 2024: 735 → 655. 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 Unicoi’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Unicoi by day and by night
On a workday 1,334 residents head out to work, 58 work right here, and 597 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Unicoi on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.47 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
About 29 minutes each way for Unicoi’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Unicoi workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,471 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.
The distance from Unicoi to work
About 19% 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.
Most trips from Unicoi start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Unicoi is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns, #112 of 177 in Tennessee. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% of 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 1,620 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). 2.0% of Unicoi households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Unicoi’s commuters take a bus or train.
Unicoi is 3,458th of 4,264 U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 409 | Piperton TN | 2,889 | $130K | 4.6% | 3.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,456 | Lyons KS | 3,488 | $63K | 9.1% | 8.0% | 32% | C− |
| 3,457 | Denton MD | 5,075 | $67K | 12.8% | 12.7% | 13% | C− |
| 3,458 | Unicoi TN | 3,861 | $42K | 21.3% | 4.8% | 4% | C− |
| 3,459 | Dexter ME | 3,874 | $52K | 23.1% | 2.1% | 19% | C− |
| 3,460 | Knox IN | 3,601 | $49K | 28.7% | 3.2% | 21% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | 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 Unicoi, 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 Unicoi: questions
What is the median household income in Unicoi?
$42,424 (±$15,237) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Unicoi?
21.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Unicoi?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Unicoi work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Johnson City (30%, 9 mi), Erwin (13%, 7 mi), Kingsport (6%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Unicoi walkable?
Unicoi is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Unicoi 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 Unicoi, from the people who make the trip.
More of Unicoi
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.