Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 2.5Households in Boston have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
At home: 3% of workers have no commute at all (Georgia 16%). 29.5% of residents live below the poverty line; Georgia has 13.4%. For jobs and income Boston is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Boston, in brief
Boston is a place people come home to
There are 98 jobs based in Boston, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Boston has about 890 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Boston and Thomasville trade workers both ways
Thomasville is the top workplace for Boston residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Boston come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Boston are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 69 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; with 458 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Boston
Job access by car holds Boston’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (4.0%) is left out: Boston’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, Boston could be anywhere from D− to D.
How many people are in Boston by day
On a workday 447 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 87 people come in from elsewhere.
About 890 people are in Boston on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.21 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
29% of working residents work in Thomasville
Where Boston clocks in
29% of workers
6% 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.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Georgia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boston workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 675 commuters (the 3% 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.
Goods jobs make up 31% of work in Boston
98 jobs are based in Boston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boston, 2013 → 2023: 68 → 98. 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 Boston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Boston commutes less than 14 miles
About 26% 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 Boston commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 3.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 698 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). 10.5% of Boston households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Boston’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Boston compares with U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 296 | Cataula GA | 1,522 | $124K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 299 | Clermont GA | 1,165 | $136K | 4.7% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,463 | Preston WI | 1,441 | $49K | 20.9% | 2.4% | 2% | D− |
| 4,464 | Cottonwood AL | 1,104 | $34K | 27.6% | 1.3% | 1% | D− |
| 4,465 | Boston GA | 1,251 | $45K | 29.5% | 4.0% | 2% | D− |
| 4,466 | Hill City KS | 1,376 | $49K | 16.7% | 6.7% | 36% | D− |
| 4,467 | Eastport ME | 1,285 | $46K | 15.2% | 2.8% | 44% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Boston, 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 Boston: questions
What is the median household income in Boston?
$44,728 (±$13,100) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boston?
29.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boston?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boston work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Thomasville (29%, 12 mi), Tallahassee (6%, 36 mi), Cairo (2%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boston walkable?
Boston is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boston without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boston
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.