Simeon and Jane Rucker Log House · Photo: Rheave · CC BY-SA 3.0Alpharetta’s household incomes are higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 22.2 in Atlanta. Below the poverty line: 5.6% of residents, next to 13.4% for Georgia as a whole. For jobs and income Alpharetta is better than 87% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Alpharetta stands out on work
Alpharetta fills up on a workday
Alpharetta has 106,649 jobs, 3.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 142,000 people are in town, more than double the 67,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Alpharetta
37% of Alpharetta workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Time on the road ↓
Alpharetta draws workers from far and wide
The 106,649 jobs in Alpharetta are filled from a wide area. Alpharetta’s own residents hold 5% and the ten next-biggest home towns 23%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Most jobs in Alpharetta pay over $40,000 a year
76% of the jobs based in Alpharetta pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Alpharetta’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Alpharetta is Atlanta, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (4,911) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
The figures behind Alpharetta’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Alpharetta’s grade up ($147,612, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alpharetta could be anywhere from A− to A+.
A workday in Alpharetta: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 25,751 residents head out to work, 5,818 work right here, and 100,831 people come in from elsewhere.
About 142,000 people are in Alpharetta on a workday afternoon, 112% more than live here.
3.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Alpharetta, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alpharetta workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 22,270 commuters (the 37% 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 travels to work in Alpharetta, and from where
Where Alpharetta clocks in
16% of workers
9% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Alpharetta
106,649 jobs are based in Alpharetta.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alpharetta, 2013 → 2023: 80,367 → 106,649. 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 Alpharetta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Alpharetta, by distance
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.
Alpharetta is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 35,206 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 34% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 8% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.6% of Alpharetta households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Alpharetta’s commuters take a bus or train.
Alpharetta is 120th of 648 U.S. towns of 47,000 to 90,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Dunwoody GA | 51,792 | $122K | 6.1% | 1.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Johns Creek GA | 80,401 | $160K | 4.2% | 4.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Novi MI | 67,319 | $111K | 5.4% | 4.3% | 11% | A |
| 119 | Redmond WA | 82,506 | $163K | 5.6% | 4.9% | 32% | A |
| 120 | Alpharetta GA | 66,921 | $148K | 5.6% | 4.9% | 18% | A |
| 121 | Reston VA | 64,414 | $149K | 5.7% | 5.0% | 14% | A |
| 122 | Plainfield Township IL | 85,115 | $127K | 4.7% | 5.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Brookhaven GA | 59,643 | $118K | 10.3% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 648 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | 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 Alpharetta, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
How Alpharetta compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Roswell (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alpharetta workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpharetta | – | A | A− | 26 min | $147,612 |
| Milton | 1% | A+ | B+ | 28 min | $171,295 |
| Johns Creek | 3% | A | B | 30 min | $160,093 |
| Roswell | 5% | A | A− | 27 min | $128,654 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alpharetta’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 Alpharetta: questions
What is the median household income in Alpharetta?
$147,612 (±$9,158) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alpharetta?
5.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alpharetta?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 37% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alpharetta work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (16%, 23 mi), Sandy Springs (9%, 11 mi), Roswell (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alpharetta walkable?
Alpharetta is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alpharetta without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 8% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alpharetta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alpharetta
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.