Photo: Thomson M · CC BY 3.0Most of Alto commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
48 jobs are based in Alto for 395 working residents. The two grades for Alto are B− for jobs and income and D for walkability. 1% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Georgia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Alto
Alto is a place people come home to
There are 48 jobs based in Alto, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Alto has about 670 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Alto workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Alto workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 54 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 395 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Alto’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Alto is better than 46% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Alto’s grade up ($81,250, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.2%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (2.7%) is left out: Alto’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Alto could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Who commutes out of Alto, and who commutes in
On a workday 395 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 48 people come in from elsewhere.
About 670 people are in Alto on a workday afternoon, 34% 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 trip to work from Alto: about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alto workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 500 commuters (the 1% 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.
12% of working residents work in Gainesville
Where Alto clocks in
12% 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.
Jobs in Alto: what the 48 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alto, 2013 → 2023: 26 → 48. 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 Alto’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Alto’s workers travel
About 23% 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 Alto, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alto is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Alto near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 506 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). 1.3% of Alto households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alto’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,148th of 3,133: where Alto ranks among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 163 | Clermont GA | 1,165 | $136K | 4.7% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 408 | Robins AFB GA | 1,193 | $107K | 5.9% | 9.9% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,146 | Vernon Township OH | 1,327 | $55K | 6.1% | 4.8% | 2% | B− |
| 1,147 | Fallon Station NV | 1,399 | $67K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 0% | B− |
| 1,148 | Alto GA | 1,018 | $81K | 13.2% | 2.7% | 0% | B− |
| 1,149 | Conway Township KS | 1,144 | $74K | 9.7% | 3.6% | 8% | B− |
| 1,150 | Candlewood Lake OH | 1,053 | $87K | 10.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Alto, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Work in the towns next to Alto
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Alto’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 Alto: questions
What is the median household income in Alto?
$81,250 (±$16,648) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alto?
13.2%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alto?
35 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alto work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gainesville (12%, 19 mi), Cornelia (9%, 4 mi), Baldwin (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alto walkable?
Alto is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alto without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alto, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alto
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.