Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Blackshear trail those of 96% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 4% of workers, against 16% across Georgia. The poverty rate is 23.3%, where Georgia as a whole has 13.4%. Jobs and income earn Blackshear D; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Blackshear
Blackshear is where the jobs are
Blackshear has 2,584 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Blackshear are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Blackshear workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 Blackshear
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Blackshear is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #222 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Blackshear’s grade up (5.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($40,670, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Blackshear could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Blackshear
On a workday 1,119 residents head out to work, 242 work right here, and 2,342 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,900 people are in Blackshear on a workday afternoon, 33% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Getting to work from Blackshear takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blackshear workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,322 commuters (the 4% 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.
The daily trip into Blackshear
Where Blackshear clocks in
20% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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 kinds of work in Blackshear
2,584 jobs are based in Blackshear.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blackshear, 2013 → 2023: 2,295 → 2,584. 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 Blackshear’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Blackshear commutes
About 28% 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.
Most of Blackshear commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blackshear is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns, #205 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below 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 1,380 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). 7.9% of Blackshear households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Blackshear’s commuters take a bus or train.
Blackshear next to U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 278 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 357 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,009 | Springfield Township PA | 2,634 | $57K | 17.8% | 9.3% | 6% | D |
| 4,010 | Fort Defiance AZ | 3,351 | $56K | 13.3% | 11.2% | 28% | D |
| 4,011 | Blackshear GA | 3,680 | $41K | 23.3% | 5.8% | 18% | D |
| 4,012 | Aberdeen MS | 4,799 | $33K | 28.2% | 5.7% | 21% | D |
| 4,013 | Etowah TN | 3,786 | $39K | 15.4% | 11.1% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | 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 Blackshear, 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 Blackshear: questions
What is the median household income in Blackshear?
$40,670 (±$12,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blackshear?
23.3%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blackshear?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blackshear work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waycross (20%, 8 mi), Jesup (2%, 30 mi), Valdosta (2%, 68 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blackshear walkable?
Blackshear is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blackshear without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blackshear, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blackshear
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.