Watauga Hydroelectric Project · Photo: Parker1297 · CC BY 3.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Valley Forge works elsewhere
Employers in Valley Forge report 107 jobs, against 807 working residents. The two grades for Valley Forge are B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Valley Forge apart on work
Valley Forge is a place people come home to
There are 107 jobs based in Valley Forge, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Valley Forge has about 1,400 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
28% of Valley Forge works in Johnson City
223 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Johnson City, 11 miles away. That’s far more as work in Valley Forge itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Valley Forge are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Tennessee. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Tennessee worker. Time on the road ↓
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 807 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Valley Forge
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Valley Forge is better than 45% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Valley Forge’s grade up (1.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($54,631, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Valley Forge could be anywhere from C− to B.
Valley Forge by day and by night
On a workday 804 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 104 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Valley Forge on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer 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.
28% of working residents work in Johnson City
Where Valley Forge clocks in
28% of workers
24% 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.
Each way, about 20 minutes from Valley Forge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Valley Forge workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 984 commuters (the 5% 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.
What Valley Forge’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Valley Forge, 2013 → 2023: 199 → 107. 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 Valley Forge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Valley Forge commutes less than 11 miles
About 16% 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.
Few in Valley Forge walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Valley Forge is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,038 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). 3.0% of Valley Forge households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Valley Forge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Valley Forge is 2,536th of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,534 | Delmar Township PA | 2,796 | $64K | 7.5% | 2.0% | 4% | B− |
| 2,535 | Meadowbrook CA | 2,627 | $56K | 17.1% | 2.9% | 1% | B− |
| 2,536 | Valley Forge TN | 2,136 | $55K | 15.1% | 1.9% | <1% | B− |
| 2,537 | Ashland Township MI | 2,861 | $68K | 9.4% | 3.3% | 1% | B− |
| 2,538 | Lake Edward Township MN | 2,234 | $82K | 6.7% | 5.2% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Valley Forge, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Valley Forge and its neighbors: 24% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Valley Forge workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valley Forge | – | B− | C+ | 20 min | $54,631 |
| Hampton | under 2% | D | D | 24 min | $39,028 |
| Elizabethton | 24% | C− | B | 21 min | $46,975 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Elizabethton. Darker towns draw more of Valley Forge’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Valley Forge: questions
What is the median household income in Valley Forge?
$54,631 (±$7,080) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Valley Forge?
15.1%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Valley Forge?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Valley Forge work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Johnson City (28%, 11 mi), Elizabethton (24%, 3 mi), Kingsport (6%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Valley Forge walkable?
Valley Forge is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Valley Forge without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Valley Forge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Valley Forge
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.