Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Cleveland (1.1%) is lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income B−: better than 46% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #110 of 263 in Georgia.
Walkability A−: more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns · #43 of 263 in Georgia.
Household incomes here are lower than in 67% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 22 minutes each way (Georgia 28, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Cleveland; the top destination outside it is Gainesville (10%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Cleveland
Cleveland is where the jobs are
Cleveland has 3,139 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 5,200 people are in town, 49% more than the 3,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Cleveland are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
32% of the jobs based in Cleveland are held by workers 29 or younger, against 29% of Cleveland’s own working residents. 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.
What’s behind Cleveland’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cleveland is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #110 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Cleveland’s grade up (1.1%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (18.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cleveland could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Cleveland fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,216 residents head out to work, 222 work right here, and 2,917 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,200 people are in Cleveland on a workday afternoon, 49% more than live here.
2.2 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Georgia
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cleveland workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,717 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
What the 3,139 jobs in Cleveland are
3,139 jobs are based in Cleveland. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cleveland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cleveland, 2013 → 2023: 2,396 → 3,139. 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.
Where Cleveland’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Cleveland clocks in
10% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Cleveland commutes less than 20 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 21% 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.
Cleveland is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cleveland is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #43 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Cleveland 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 1,872 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). 4.6% of Cleveland households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cleveland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cleveland is 2,438th of 4,535 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cleveland, 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 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 284 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 367 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,436 | St. Marys Township KS | 4,018 | $82K | 8.7% | 5.1% | 34% | B− |
| 2,437 | Georgetown CA | 2,403 | $92K | 7.2% | 19.4% | 4% | B− |
| 2,438 | Cleveland GA | 3,472 | $64K | 18.9% | 1.1% | 15% | B− |
| 2,439 | Stanford KY | 3,761 | $49K | 12.0% | 1.1% | 16% | B− |
| 2,440 | Trowbridge Township MI | 2,561 | $76K | 10.7% | 4.1% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Cleveland: questions
What is the median household income in Cleveland?
$64,450 (±$28,751) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cleveland?
18.9%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cleveland?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cleveland work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gainesville (10%, 22 mi), Helen (5%, 8 mi), Atlanta (2%, 69 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cleveland walkable?
Cleveland is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cleveland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cleveland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cleveland
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.