Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Watertown has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
For jobs and income Watertown is better than 56% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (C−). Employers in Watertown report 322 jobs; 783 of its residents have a job. Only 3% work in Watertown itself; outside it, Nashville draws the most (26%, 36 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Watertown and work: the main findings
Watertown’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Watertown is Nashville, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (203) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Watertown
70% of Watertown residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 49% of the jobs based in Watertown pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Watertown makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Watertown are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Watertown residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. 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; with 783 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Watertown
The poverty rate holds Watertown’s grade up (7.3%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($68,148, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Watertown’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Watertown could be anywhere from C to A−.
The distance from Watertown to work
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.
Factories, building and farms: 40% of the jobs in Watertown
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Watertown, 2014 → 2024: 236 → 322. 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 Watertown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Watertown
On a workday 761 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 300 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Watertown on a workday afternoon, 27% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from Watertown work
Where Watertown clocks in
26% 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.
Getting to work from Watertown takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Watertown workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 629 commuters (the 11% 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.
Getting around Watertown: mostly by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 704 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). 1.3% of Watertown households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Watertown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Watertown places 1,813th of 5,760 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 192 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 224 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,811 | Lake Don Pedro CA | 1,308 | $85K | 0.0% | 6.4% | 2% | B |
| 1,812 | Archie MO | 1,305 | $69K | 5.1% | 1.0% | 7% | B |
| 1,813 | Watertown TN | 1,691 | $68K | 7.3% | 5.5% | 3% | B |
| 1,814 | Forreston Township IL | 1,952 | $72K | 5.5% | 5.5% | 7% | B |
| 1,815 | Darlington Township PA | 1,777 | $64K | 7.5% | 8.9% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Watertown, 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 Watertown: questions
What is the median household income in Watertown?
$68,148 (±$11,895) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Watertown?
7.3%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Watertown?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Watertown work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (26%, 36 mi), Lebanon (26%, 13 mi), Murfreesboro (6%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Watertown walkable?
Watertown is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Watertown 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 Watertown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Watertown
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.