Photo: Cculber007 at en.wikipedia · Public domainHouseholds in Cave Spring have lower incomes than those in 87% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 12.6% of residents, next to 13.4% for Georgia as a whole. Cave Spring grades D for jobs and income and D for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers (Georgia 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cave Spring and work: the main findings
Cave Spring makes and builds things
56% of the jobs based in Cave Spring are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Cave Spring residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Cave Spring
52% of Cave Spring residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 26% of the jobs based in Cave Spring pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Cave Spring pay little
30% of the jobs based in Cave Spring pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 35% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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 503 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Cave Spring earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cave Spring is better than 13% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Cave Spring’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($50,882, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Cave Spring’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, Cave Spring could be anywhere from D to C+.
56% of the jobs in Cave Spring make or build things
432 jobs are based in Cave Spring.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cave Spring, 2013 → 2023: 256 → 432. 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 Cave Spring’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Cave Spring
On a workday 486 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 415 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 (0.86 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.
27% of working residents work in Rome
Where Cave Spring clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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 daily trip from Cave Spring: about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cave Spring workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 494 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.
How far it is to work from Cave Spring
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.
Most trips from Cave Spring start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cave Spring is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 516 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). 14.3% of Cave Spring households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cave Spring’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cave Spring is 3,793rd of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700 on jobs and income
| # | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 3,791 | West Blocton AL | 1,194 | $41K | 24.0% | 10.1% | 3% | D |
| 3,792 | Lincolnton GA | 1,433 | $44K | 12.4% | 1.7% | 15% | D |
| 3,793 | Cave Spring GA | 1,228 | $51K | 12.6% | 1.3% | 3% | D |
| 3,794 | Oxford NY | 1,322 | $56K | 14.6% | 5.1% | 5% | D |
| 3,795 | Riddle OR | 1,218 | $67K | 19.0% | 6.1% | 6% | 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 Cave Spring, 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 Cave Spring: questions
What is the median household income in Cave Spring?
$50,882 (±$17,801) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cave Spring?
12.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cave Spring?
35 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cave Spring work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rome (27%, 14 mi), Lindale (5%, 11 mi), Cedartown (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cave Spring walkable?
Cave Spring is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cave Spring without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cave Spring, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cave Spring
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.