Hebron Church, Cemetery, and Academy · Photo: Gwringle · CC BY-SA 3.0Commerce has lower unemployment (1.1%) than 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Commerce B; getting around on foot earns it C. 6% of workers have no commute at all, where Georgia as a whole has 16%. About one in seven work in Commerce; the top destination outside it is Athens (11%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Commerce apart on work
Commerce makes and builds things
60% of the jobs based in Commerce are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Commerce residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Commerce draws workers from far and wide
The 7,014 jobs in Commerce are filled from a wide area. Commerce’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 17%; the other 76% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commerce has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Commerce went from 3,982 in 2013 to 7,014 in 2023, +76%. The jobs ↓
Commerce is where the jobs are
Commerce has 7,014 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Commerce’s workers comes from Athens
666 of the people who work in Commerce live in Athens, 19 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Commerce earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Commerce is better than 65% of U.S. towns, #61 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Commerce’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($60,961, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Commerce could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Factories, building and farms: 60% of the jobs in Commerce
7,014 jobs are based in Commerce.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Commerce, 2013 → 2023: 3,982 → 7,014. 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 Commerce’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Commerce: where workers come from
Where Commerce clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
Who works in Commerce, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,049 residents head out to work, 458 work right here, and 6,556 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Commerce on a workday afternoon, 38% more than live here.
2.0 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.
The daily trip from Commerce: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Commerce workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,421 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Commerce
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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Commerce walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Commerce is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #209 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Commerce 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 3,629 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). 1.2% of Commerce households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Commerce’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Commerce is 1,294th among 2,867 U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Tyrone GA | 8,091 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 426 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 593 | Druid Hills GA | 8,169 | $130K | 9.3% | 3.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,292 | Canonsburg PA | 9,529 | $79K | 6.2% | 5.6% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,293 | Marlborough NY | 9,070 | $107K | 10.6% | 4.4% | 17% | B+ |
| 1,294 | Commerce GA | 9,303 | $61K | 8.3% | 1.1% | 13% | B |
| 1,295 | Winthrop Harbor IL | 6,525 | $96K | 5.2% | 9.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,296 | Palmyra NY | 7,319 | $67K | 8.1% | 2.2% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,867 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Commerce, 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 Commerce: questions
What is the median household income in Commerce?
$60,961 (±$8,896) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Commerce?
8.3%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Commerce?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Commerce work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Athens (11%, 19 mi), Jefferson (7%, 9 mi), Gainesville (5%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Commerce walkable?
Commerce is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Commerce without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Commerce, from the people who make the trip.
More of Commerce
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.