Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Cochran have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers; Georgia has 16%. 32.1% of residents are in poverty (Georgia 13.4%). Cochran grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Cochran apart on work
Cochran trades workers with the towns around it
Cochran has about as many jobs (1,370) as working residents (1,477), but they are mostly different people: 1,243 residents leave for work each day while 1,136 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Cochran are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Cochran than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Cochran fell from 1,967 in 2013 to 1,370 in 2023, −30%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Cochran workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Cochran’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 Cochran 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Cochran
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cochran is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #261 of 263 in Georgia. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Cochran’s grade.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cochran stays D−.
A workday in Cochran: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,243 residents head out to work, 234 work right here, and 1,136 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 (0.93 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.
Jobs in Cochran: what the 1,370 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cochran, 2013 → 2023: 1,967 → 1,370. 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 Cochran’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Cochran: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cochran workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,453 commuters (the 6% 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.
7% of working residents work in Macon-Bibb County
Where Cochran clocks in
7% 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.
How far it is to work from Cochran
About 31% 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 Cochran, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cochran is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #141 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Cochran 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 1,543 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). 19.5% of Cochran households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Cochran’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Cochran compares with U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 157 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,677 | Richfield Township MI | 3,575 | $47K | 29.6% | 10.8% | 7% | D− |
| 3,678 | Jackson AL | 4,452 | $38K | 26.1% | 18.4% | 23% | D− |
| 3,679 | Cochran GA | 4,986 | $33K | 32.1% | 12.2% | 16% | D− |
| 3,680 | Tabor City NC | 3,886 | $39K | 32.9% | 10.2% | 14% | D− |
| 3,681 | Rocky Ford CO | 3,752 | $41K | 31.7% | 11.5% | 17% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cochran, 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 Cochran: questions
What is the median household income in Cochran?
$33,456 (±$7,632) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cochran?
32.1%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cochran?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cochran work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Macon-Bibb County (7%, 35 mi), Warner Robins (6%, 23 mi), Eastman (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cochran walkable?
Cochran is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cochran without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cochran, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cochran
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.