Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Ashburn has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
26.3% of residents are in poverty, next to 13.4% for Georgia as a whole. Measured by household income, Ashburn is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The two grades for Ashburn are 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
Jobs and commuting in Ashburn: the gist
Fewer than half of Ashburn workers earn over $40,000 a year
37% of Ashburn’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Ashburn than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Ashburn fell from 1,479 in 2013 to 937 in 2023, −37%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Ashburn 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Ashburn
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ashburn is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #260 of 263 in Georgia. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ashburn’s grade.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ashburn stays D−.
Inside Ashburn’s 937 jobs
937 jobs are based in Ashburn.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashburn, 2013 → 2023: 1,479 → 937. 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 Ashburn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Ashburn spends getting to work: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashburn workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 998 commuters (the 18% 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 a workday changes Ashburn
On a workday 1,039 residents head out to work, 210 work right here, and 727 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 (0.75 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.
10% of working residents work in Tifton
Where Ashburn clocks in
10% 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 commute from Ashburn, by distance
About 31% 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.
Ashburn is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashburn is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #136 of 263 in Georgia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,210 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). 10.9% of Ashburn households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Ashburn’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,700, and where Ashburn sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 282 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,156 | Denmark SC | 3,059 | $27K | 35.1% | 20.4% | 10% | D− |
| 4,157 | Coleman TX | 3,991 | $35K | 24.7% | 11.6% | 51% | D− |
| 4,158 | Ashburn GA | 4,211 | $30K | 26.3% | 20.3% | 17% | D− |
| 4,159 | South Taft CA | 2,939 | $43K | 35.0% | 13.6% | 3% | D− |
| 4,160 | Flemingsburg KY | 3,005 | $35K | 34.3% | 20.5% | 24% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,195 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ashburn, 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 Ashburn: questions
What is the median household income in Ashburn?
$29,583 (±$3,676) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashburn?
26.3%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashburn?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashburn work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tifton (10%, 19 mi), Cordele (6%, 18 mi), Albany (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashburn walkable?
Ashburn is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashburn without a car?
3% 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 Ashburn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashburn
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.