Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Cairo earn less than those in 95% of U.S. towns
For 2% of workers, the job is at home (Georgia 16%). 28.8% of residents are in poverty, against 13.4% across Georgia. About one in four work in Cairo itself; outside it, Thomasville draws the most (16%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cairo, in a few figures
Few Cairo workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Cairo workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Cairo’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Cairo are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 38 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.
What’s behind Cairo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cairo is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #214 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Cairo’s grade up (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($40,920, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cairo could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Commuting from Cairo: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cairo workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,514 commuters (the 2% 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.
A place that makes things: 31% of Cairo’s jobs are in goods
4,424 jobs are based in Cairo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cairo, 2013 → 2023: 3,729 → 4,424. 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 Cairo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Cairo
On a workday 2,548 residents head out to work, 967 work right here, and 3,457 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.26 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.
The places Cairo commutes to
Where Cairo clocks in
16% of workers
7% 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.
Where in the region Cairo works
About 25% 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.
In Cairo, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cairo is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns, #215 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 3,602 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). 9.0% of Cairo households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cairo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cairo and other U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Tyrone GA | 8,091 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 426 | Flowery Branch GA | 13,110 | $104K | 6.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 596 | Druid Hills GA | 8,169 | $130K | 9.3% | 3.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,715 | Salida del Sol Estates TX | 7,766 | $36K | 43.1% | 5.9% | 1% | D |
| 2,716 | Sebring FL | 12,059 | $44K | 24.1% | 5.9% | 20% | D |
| 2,717 | Cairo GA | 10,150 | $41K | 28.8% | 5.2% | 28% | D |
| 2,718 | Campbellsville KY | 11,783 | $50K | 23.4% | 7.4% | 38% | D |
| 2,719 | Marion Township IN | 9,002 | $51K | 14.7% | 8.3% | 15% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Cairo, 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 Cairo: questions
What is the median household income in Cairo?
$40,920 (±$5,955) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cairo?
28.8%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cairo?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cairo work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Thomasville (16%, 14 mi), Tallahassee (7%, 30 mi), Albany (3%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cairo walkable?
Cairo is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cairo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cairo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cairo
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.