Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Adel’s household incomes are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
23.9% of residents live below the poverty line (Georgia 13.4%). Adel grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Home is the office for 3% of workers, where Georgia as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Adel apart on work
Fewer than half of Adel workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Adel’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Few Adel workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Adel are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia 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.
Inside Adel’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Adel is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #230 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Adel’s grade up (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($43,618, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Adel could be anywhere from D− to C+.
What Adel’s employers do
2,600 jobs are based in Adel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Adel, 2013 → 2023: 2,660 → 2,600. 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 Adel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Adel: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Adel workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,151 commuters (the 3% 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.
Who works in Adel, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,559 residents head out to work, 416 work right here, and 2,184 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,500 people are in Adel on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 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.
13% of working residents work in Valdosta
Where Adel clocks in
13% of workers
6% 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.
The distance from Adel to work
About 24% 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.
In Adel, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Adel is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns, #156 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Georgia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,210 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). 7.2% of Adel households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Adel’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900, and where Adel sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 395 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,252 | Ellisville MS | 4,473 | $32K | 22.9% | 10.9% | 11% | D |
| 3,253 | Big Stone Gap VA | 5,102 | $55K | 26.2% | 7.0% | 18% | D |
| 3,254 | Adel GA | 5,854 | $44K | 23.9% | 6.8% | 21% | D |
| 3,255 | Watseka IL | 4,510 | $44K | 23.4% | 5.8% | 29% | D |
| 3,256 | Scottsville KY | 4,673 | $36K | 21.9% | 8.7% | 26% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Adel, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Work in the towns next to Adel
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Adel’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Adel: questions
What is the median household income in Adel?
$43,618 (±$14,295) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Adel?
23.9%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Adel?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Adel work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Valdosta (13%, 21 mi), Tifton (6%, 24 mi), Moultrie (4%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Adel walkable?
Adel is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Adel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Adel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Adel
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.