Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Butler’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Jobs & income D−: better than 20% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C: more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 34 minutes each way (Georgia 28, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Butler; the top destination outside it is Columbus (7%, 37 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Butler, in brief
Fewer than half of Butler workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Butler’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 15% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Butler workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical 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 611 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Butler’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Butler is better than 20% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Butler’s grade.
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: Butler’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Butler stays D−.
Butler makes things: 29% of its jobs are in goods
812 jobs are based in Butler. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Butler’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Butler, 2013 → 2023: 829 → 812. 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.
About 34 minutes each way, longer than most of Georgia
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Butler workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 543 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Butler fills up on a workday
On a workday 510 residents head out to work, 101 work right here, and 711 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Butler on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 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.
7% of working residents work in Columbus
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Butler clocks in
7% of workers
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Butler commutes less than 36 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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.
Most trips from Butler start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Butler is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Butler 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 572 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). 24.5% of Butler households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Butler’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Butler compares with U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Butler, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 199 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,628 | Richland GA | 1,394 | $25K | 35.9% | 9.4% | 7% | D− |
| 5,629 | Buena Vista GA | 1,583 | $29K | 35.9% | 1.9% | 16% | D− |
| 5,630 | Butler GA | 1,825 | $22K | 49.6% | 2.0% | 17% | D− |
| 5,631 | Beattyville KY | 2,114 | $23K | 42.2% | 14.5% | 26% | D− |
| 5,632 | Zwolle LA | 1,605 | $28K | 42.0% | 9.7% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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.
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 Butler: questions
What is the median household income in Butler?
$21,700 (±$14,744) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Butler?
49.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Butler?
34 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Butler work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (7%, 37 mi), Fort Valley (6%, 21 mi), Macon-Bibb County (5%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Butler walkable?
Butler is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Butler without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Butler, from the people who make the trip.
More of Butler
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.