Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Most of Whitwell commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Only 4% stay in Whitwell for work; outside it, Chattanooga is the main destination (35%, 18 miles). Employers in Whitwell report 281 jobs, and 617 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Whitwell is better than 43% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Whitwell: the gist
One in three of Whitwell works in Chattanooga
218 working residents, 35%, have their main job in Chattanooga, 18 miles away. That’s 9 times as many as work in Whitwell itself. The commute map ↓
Whitwell workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 26 across Tennessee. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical 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 617 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Whitwell earns its Jobs & income grade
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Whitwell’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Whitwell could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Where Whitwell’s working residents head each day
Where Whitwell clocks in
35% of workers
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.
Each way, about 37 minutes from Whitwell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Whitwell workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 917 commuters (the 13% 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.
Who works in Whitwell, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 592 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 256 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Whitwell on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
The kinds of work in Whitwell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Whitwell, 2013 → 2023: 311 → 281. 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 Whitwell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Whitwell
About 22% 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.
Getting around Whitwell: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,054 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). 8.1% of Whitwell households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Whitwell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Whitwell next to U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200: 2,707th of 6,161 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 202 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 232 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,705 | Bakersfield VT | 1,307 | $83K | 7.3% | 4.9% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,706 | Conway Springs KS | 1,141 | $73K | 11.2% | 2.2% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,707 | Whitwell TN | 1,596 | $68K | 9.7% | 4.8% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,708 | Nebraska Township IL | 1,298 | $79K | 8.7% | 1.8% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,709 | Hartford ME | 1,264 | $87K | 7.4% | 2.2% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Whitwell, 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 Whitwell: questions
What is the median household income in Whitwell?
$67,774 (±$13,974) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Whitwell?
9.7%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Whitwell?
37 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Whitwell work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (35%, 18 mi), Jasper (11%, 11 mi), South Pittsburg (5%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Whitwell walkable?
Whitwell is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Whitwell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Whitwell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Whitwell
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.