Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Arlington are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Only 5% work in Arlington itself; outside it, Albany draws the most (11%, 34 miles). 22.6% of residents are in poverty, against 13.4% across Georgia. Arlington grades D− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Arlington
Stores, warehouses and trucking
67% of the jobs in Arlington are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Arlington’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Arlington is Albany, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (46) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
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 422 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Arlington’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Arlington is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Arlington’s grade.
Unemployment (3.1%) is left out: Arlington’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Arlington could be anywhere from D− to D.
Jobs in Arlington: what the 341 are
341 jobs are based in Arlington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arlington, 2013 → 2023: 317 → 341. 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 Arlington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Arlington’s workers travel
About 35% 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.
How a workday changes Arlington
On a workday 401 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 320 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 (0.81 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 Arlington’s working residents head each day
Where Arlington clocks in
11% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Arlington’s commute takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arlington workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 433 commuters (the 10% 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.
Getting around Arlington: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Arlington is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 4.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 483 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). 14.5% of Arlington households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Arlington’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Arlington compares with U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Clermont GA | 1,165 | $136K | 4.7% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 510 | Robins AFB GA | 1,193 | $107K | 5.9% | 9.9% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,524 | Freeborn Township MO | 1,369 | $46K | 27.0% | 1.7% | 12% | D− |
| 3,525 | Mayo FL | 1,119 | $54K | 21.4% | 9.3% | 13% | D− |
| 3,526 | Arlington GA | 1,126 | $48K | 22.6% | 3.1% | 5% | D− |
| 3,527 | Manchester KY | 1,411 | $24K | 41.1% | 9.5% | 24% | D− |
| 3,528 | Laurie MO | 1,087 | $50K | 20.0% | 10.5% | 14% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Arlington, 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 Arlington: questions
What is the median household income in Arlington?
$48,125 (±$6,971) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arlington?
22.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arlington?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arlington work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albany (11%, 34 mi), Blakely (6%, 12 mi), Edison (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arlington walkable?
Arlington is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arlington without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arlington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arlington
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.