Photo: Dclemens1971 · CC BY 4.0Households in Walden earn more than those in 90% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 3.1% of residents (Tennessee 13.8%). Walden grades A for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 1% work in Walden; the top destination outside it is Chattanooga (57%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Walden apart on work
More than half of Walden works in Chattanooga
429 working residents, 57%, have their main job in Chattanooga, 7.6 miles away. That’s 57 times as many as work in Walden itself. The commute map ↓
Walden is a place people come home to
There are 191 jobs based in Walden, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Walden has about 1,400 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 758 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Walden’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Walden is better than 95% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 67% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Walden’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Walden could be anywhere from A to A+.
Where the trip to work from Walden ends
Where Walden clocks in
57% 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.
How a workday changes Walden
On a workday 749 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 182 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Walden on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.25 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 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Walden
191 jobs are based in Walden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walden, 2013 → 2023: 186 → 191. 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 Walden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Walden: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walden workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 709 commuters (the 17% 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 many miles Walden commutes
About 20% 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.
In Walden, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 858 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.6% of Walden households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Walden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Walden places 195th of 5,509 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 193 | Lowry Crossing TX | 2,521 | $117K | 6.0% | 3.8% | <1% | A |
| 194 | Derwood MD | 1,984 | $118K | 7.0% | 14.6% | 1% | A |
| 195 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| 196 | Tremont Township IL | 2,640 | $93K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 4% | A |
| 197 | Wills Township IN | 2,111 | $113K | 1.8% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 233 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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 Walden, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
Walden and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Signal Mountain (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Walden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walden | – | A | B | 25 min | $124,493 |
| Fairmount | 1% | A | C+ | 27 min | $137,317 |
| Signal Mountain | 6% | A+ | B− | 28 min | $141,008 |
| Falling Water | under 1% | A | C | 26 min | $111,842 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Walden’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 Walden: questions
What is the median household income in Walden?
$124,493 (±$9,758) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walden?
3.1%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walden?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Walden work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (57%, 8 mi), Signal Mountain (6%, 2 mi), Nashville (4%, 108 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Walden walkable?
Walden is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Walden without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Walden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walden
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.