United States Post Office-Baxley, Georgia · Photo: Bubba73 (Jud McCranie) · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Baxley’s
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 32.2% of residents, against 13.4% across Georgia. Baxley 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
Getting to work from Baxley, in brief
Baxley is where the jobs are
Baxley has 3,918 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 7,200 people are in town, 42% more than the 5,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Baxley 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Baxley workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Baxley’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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.
Why Baxley gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Baxley is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #254 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Baxley’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($29,880, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Baxley could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Baxley
On a workday 1,265 residents head out to work, 507 work right here, and 3,411 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,200 people are in Baxley on a workday afternoon, 42% more than live here.
2.2 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.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Baxley
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Baxley workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,470 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.
What Baxley’s employers do
3,918 jobs are based in Baxley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Baxley, 2013 → 2023: 3,819 → 3,918. 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 Baxley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Baxley goes to work
About 33% 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.
Commuting in to Baxley: where workers come from
Where Baxley clocks in
3% of workers
3% 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.
Few in Baxley walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Baxley is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #76 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Baxley 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 1,486 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). 15.7% of Baxley households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Baxley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Baxley and other U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,702 | Cheraw SC | 4,921 | $27K | 37.0% | 11.8% | 30% | D− |
| 3,703 | Camilla GA | 4,988 | $38K | 38.0% | 10.9% | 34% | D− |
| 3,704 | Baxley GA | 5,058 | $30K | 32.2% | 9.0% | 29% | D− |
| 3,705 | Crockett TX | 6,346 | $39K | 22.1% | 8.3% | 26% | D− |
| 3,706 | Falfurrias TX | 4,248 | $49K | 19.9% | 24.3% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | 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 Baxley, 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 Baxley: questions
What is the median household income in Baxley?
$29,880 (±$7,259) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Baxley?
32.2%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Baxley?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Baxley work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alma (3%, 17 mi), Savannah (3%, 70 mi), Vidalia (3%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Baxley walkable?
Baxley is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Baxley without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Baxley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Baxley
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.