Photo: JohnnyReb1977 · CC BY-SA 4.0Claxton has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Measured by household income, Claxton is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 35.7% of residents live below the poverty line; Georgia has 13.4%. Claxton grades D− 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
The work figures that set Claxton apart
Few Claxton 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 Claxton workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Claxton’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 819 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Claxton’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Claxton is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #252 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Claxton’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($32,692, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.0%) is left out: Claxton’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, Claxton could be anywhere from D− to D.
About 27 minutes each way for Claxton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Claxton workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 891 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.
Jobs in Claxton: what the 1,103 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Claxton, 2013 → 2023: 1,364 → 1,103. 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 Claxton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Claxton
On a workday 724 residents head out to work, 95 work right here, and 1,008 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Claxton on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.35 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 Savannah
Where Claxton clocks in
Lines 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 commute from Claxton, by distance
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.
Claxton is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Claxton is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #25 of 263 in Georgia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 20.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 7.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 910 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). 17.6% of Claxton households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Claxton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Claxton sits among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,890 | McGehee AR | 3,389 | $37K | 34.0% | 5.9% | 33% | D− |
| 4,891 | Clinton AR | 2,511 | $43K | 20.0% | 0.0% | 34% | D− |
| 4,892 | Claxton GA | 2,560 | $33K | 35.7% | 3.0% | 12% | D− |
| 4,893 | Lakeland GA | 3,062 | $31K | 44.1% | 0.8% | 15% | D− |
| 4,894 | Pelham GA | 3,359 | $39K | 22.9% | 10.5% | 11% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Claxton, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Claxton and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Hagan (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Claxton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claxton | – | D− | A | 27 min | $32,692 |
| Hagan | 1% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hagan: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Claxton’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 Claxton: questions
What is the median household income in Claxton?
$32,692 (±$14,884) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Claxton?
35.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Claxton?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Claxton work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Savannah (7%, 43 mi), Statesboro (5%, 21 mi), Pooler (3%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Claxton walkable?
Claxton is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 21% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Claxton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Claxton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Claxton
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.