Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Households in Waverly have lower incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
16.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.8% across Tennessee. The two grades for Waverly are D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 4% of workers have no commute at all, where Tennessee as a whole has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Waverly: the gist
Waverly trades workers with the towns around it
Waverly has about as many jobs (1,656) as working residents (1,418), but they are mostly different people: 1,169 residents leave for work each day while 1,407 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in Waverly are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Waverly workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 26 across Tennessee. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 92 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Waverly’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Waverly is Dickson, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (153) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Waverly workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Tennessee. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 ↓
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.
How Waverly earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Waverly’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (14.1%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waverly could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How many people are in Waverly by day
On a workday 1,169 residents head out to work, 249 work right here, and 1,407 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 (1.17 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Getting to work from Waverly takes about 38 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waverly workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,708 commuters (the 4% 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 commute from Waverly, by distance
About 32% 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.
11% of working residents work in Dickson
Where Waverly clocks in
11% of workers
5% 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.
Inside Waverly’s 1,656 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waverly, 2013 → 2023: 1,366 → 1,656. 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 Waverly’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Waverly, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waverly is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #23 of 177 in Tennessee. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% 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 1,776 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). 5.0% of Waverly households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Waverly’s commuters take a bus or train.
Waverly and other U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 428 | Coopertown TN | 4,843 | $118K | 9.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,868 | Elba AL | 3,408 | $45K | 23.8% | 8.3% | 17% | D− |
| 3,869 | Nowata OK | 3,584 | $48K | 25.5% | 7.8% | 26% | D− |
| 3,870 | Waverly TN | 4,430 | $44K | 16.2% | 14.1% | 18% | D− |
| 3,871 | Marlin TX | 5,599 | $36K | 26.7% | 14.2% | 13% | D− |
| 3,872 | Cotton Hill Township MO | 4,700 | $47K | 25.0% | 7.8% | 20% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Waverly, 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 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 Waverly: questions
What is the median household income in Waverly?
$43,773 (±$8,632) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waverly?
16.2%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waverly?
38 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waverly work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dickson (11%, 23 mi), Nashville (7%, 56 mi), Jackson (5%, 66 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waverly walkable?
Waverly is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waverly without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waverly, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waverly
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.