Photo: Thomson M · CC BY 3.0Blue Ridge’s household incomes are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Blue Ridge D; getting around on foot earns it A. The poverty rate is 20.5% (Georgia 13.4%). About one in five work in Blue Ridge itself; outside it, Atlanta draws the most (2%, 76 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Blue Ridge apart
Blue Ridge fills up on a workday
Blue Ridge has 3,396 jobs, 8.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,300 people are in town, 3 times the 1,300 who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% 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 ↓
Commutes from Blue Ridge 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 ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 402 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Blue Ridge’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Blue Ridge is better than 5% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Blue Ridge’s grade.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Blue Ridge’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, Blue Ridge could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How many people are in Blue Ridge by day
On a workday 319 residents head out to work, 83 work right here, and 3,313 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,300 people are in Blue Ridge on a workday afternoon, 231% more than live here.
8.4 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 2024, primary jobs.
Half of Blue Ridge commutes less than 22 miles
About 38% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Time on the road from Blue Ridge: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Ridge workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 437 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.
Where the people who work in Blue Ridge live
Where Blue Ridge clocks in
2% 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.
What work there is in Blue Ridge: 3,396 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Ridge, 2014 → 2024: 2,810 → 3,396. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Blue Ridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Blue Ridge, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 488 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). 12.6% of Blue Ridge households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Blue Ridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Blue Ridge next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 162 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 332 | Cataula GA | 1,522 | $124K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 335 | Clermont GA | 1,165 | $136K | 4.7% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,860 | Arenas Valley NM | 1,247 | $44K | 16.1% | 7.7% | 2% | D |
| 4,861 | Arrowhead Beach NC | 1,242 | $67K | 39.9% | 6.6% | 0% | D |
| 4,862 | Blue Ridge GA | 1,297 | $45K | 20.5% | 0.0% | 21% | D |
| 4,863 | Harper KS | 1,287 | $54K | 19.1% | 0.8% | 17% | D |
| 4,864 | Brodhead KY | 1,116 | $35K | 29.1% | 4.9% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Blue Ridge, 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 2024, 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 Blue Ridge: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Ridge?
$44,773 (±$16,915) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Ridge?
20.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Ridge?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Ridge work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (2%, 76 mi), Blairsville (2%, 21 mi), Ellijay (2%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Blue Ridge walkable?
Blue Ridge is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Ridge without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Ridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Ridge
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.