Work & commute · Sweetwater

Work & commute in Sweetwater, TN

Most working residents leave Sweetwater for work: only 18% work in town. The top destinations are Knoxville (10%), Vonore (8%) and Loudon (8%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

18%

467 of 2,558 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,091 Sweetwater residents head out of town to work, 467 work right here, and 3,163 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Sweetwater.

2,091live here, work elsewhere

467live and work here

3,163work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Sweetwater goes to work

Sweetwater (in town)right here

18%467

Knoxville38.9 mi away

10%255

Vonore13.4 mi away

8%214

Loudon11.2 mi away

8%198

Athens12.5 mi away

7%180

Madisonville8.3 mi away

4%109

Oak Ridge27.1 mi away

3%75

Lenoir City18.2 mi away

2%56

Chattanooga57.3 mi away

2%42

Cleveland36.8 mi away

2%41

Everywhere elseother towns and states

36%921

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Sweetwater commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

30%

29%

26%

15%

30%Under 10 mi

29%10–24 mi

26%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Sweetwater is balanced between jobs and homes

1.42jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Sweetwater are

3,630 jobs are based in Sweetwater. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sweetwater’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Sweetwater

3,630 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)50%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month46%

Jobs Sweetwater residents hold

2,558 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)31%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)49%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month54%

+9%

Jobs based in Sweetwater, 2013 → 2023: 3,341 → 3,630. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.