Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Abbeville’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Abbeville; the top destination outside it is Fitzgerald (9%, 20 miles). Below the poverty line: 41.7% of residents, next to 13.4% across Georgia. For jobs and income Abbeville is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Abbeville, in a few figures
Abbeville workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 48 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 368 hours of commuting, 153 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
47% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Abbeville workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Abbeville’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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 520 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Abbeville gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Abbeville is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #258 of 263 in Georgia. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Abbeville’s grade.
Unemployment (9.8%) is left out: Abbeville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Abbeville stays D−.
About 48 minutes each way for Abbeville’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 15.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Abbeville workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 315 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% 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 far it is to work from Abbeville
About 47% 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.
Abbeville is a services town
411 jobs are based in Abbeville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Abbeville, 2013 → 2023: 521 → 411. 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 Abbeville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Abbeville by day
On a workday 477 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 368 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 (0.79 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.
Where people from Abbeville work
Where Abbeville clocks in
9% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Driving is how Abbeville gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 4.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 371 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). 10.8% of Abbeville households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Abbeville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Abbeville and other U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 204 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,639 | Horseshoe Bend AR | 2,623 | $46K | 26.2% | 10.1% | 9% | D− |
| 4,640 | Alamo GA | 3,362 | $18K | 45.6% | 16.0% | 9% | D− |
| 4,641 | Abbeville GA | 2,819 | $42K | 41.7% | 9.8% | 8% | D− |
| 4,642 | Ferriday LA | 2,984 | $28K | 55.0% | 21.4% | 15% | D− |
| 4,643 | Clayton NM | 2,510 | $35K | 20.5% | 9.4% | 47% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Abbeville, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
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 Abbeville: questions
What is the median household income in Abbeville?
$42,311 (±$14,325) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Abbeville?
41.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Abbeville?
48 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Abbeville work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fitzgerald (9%, 20 mi), Macon-Bibb County (4%, 61 mi), Cordele (4%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Abbeville walkable?
Abbeville is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Abbeville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Abbeville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Abbeville
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.