Photo: City of Clarkston Government · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Clarkston trail those of 90% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 22.2 in Atlanta. Below the poverty line: 34.4% of residents, where Georgia as a whole has 13.4%. Clarkston grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Clarkston: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clarkston is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #179 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Clarkston’s grade up (ahead of 96% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clarkston could be anywhere from C− to C.
Clarkston quiets down on a workday
On a workday 5,307 residents head out to work, 79 work right here, and 1,956 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Clarkston on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.38 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.
19% of working residents work in Atlanta
Where Clarkston clocks in
19% of workers
6% 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 kinds of work in Clarkston
2,035 jobs are based in Clarkston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarkston, 2013 → 2023: 1,581 → 2,035. 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 Clarkston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Clarkston, about 31 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarkston workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,223 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 in the region Clarkston works
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Clarkston
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clarkston is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #21 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Clarkston 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 5,790 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 88% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 4% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.8% of Clarkston households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Clarkston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clarkston next to U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000: 1,919th of 2,227 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 292 | Vinings GA | 14,390 | $95K | 6.2% | 2.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 359 | Flowery Branch GA | 13,110 | $104K | 6.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 397 | North Druid Hills GA | 17,997 | $103K | 11.1% | 1.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,917 | Muskegon Township MI | 17,911 | $55K | 16.6% | 7.9% | 6% | C− |
| 1,918 | Winchendon MA | 10,620 | $76K | 18.5% | 6.7% | 11% | C− |
| 1,919 | Clarkston GA | 14,431 | $49K | 34.4% | 8.1% | 1% | C− |
| 1,920 | Fergus Falls MN | 14,246 | $56K | 9.1% | 7.2% | 62% | C− |
| 1,921 | Maryville MO | 10,092 | $53K | 24.4% | 2.7% | 46% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Clarkston, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
The towns around Clarkston
The biggest share goes to Tucker (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Clarkston’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Clarkston: questions
What is the median household income in Clarkston?
$48,564 (±$4,323) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarkston?
34.4%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarkston?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarkston work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (19%, 11 mi), Tucker (6%, 3 mi), Sandy Springs (4%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarkston walkable?
Clarkston is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarkston without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 4% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clarkston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarkston
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.