Pyle-Davis House · Photo: Melsner4 · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Demorest (7.4%) is higher than in 85% of U.S. towns
Only 3% work in Demorest itself; outside it, Cornelia draws the most (10%, 3 miles). For jobs and income Demorest is better than 37% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+). Working residents average 20 minutes each way; Georgia averages 28, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Demorest, in brief
Demorest has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Demorest went from 609 in 2013 to 972 in 2023, +60%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Demorest are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 61 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; with 759 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Demorest’s grade
Household income holds Demorest’s grade up ($77,941, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Demorest could be anywhere from D to A−.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Demorest
972 jobs are based in Demorest.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Demorest, 2013 → 2023: 609 → 972. 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 Demorest’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Demorest takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Demorest workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 981 commuters (the 14% 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.
Demorest by day and by night
On a workday 733 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 946 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 (1.28 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.
The places Demorest commutes to
Where Demorest clocks in
9% 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.
Where in the region Demorest works
About 28% 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.
Getting around Demorest: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Georgia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,136 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). 6.7% of Demorest households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Demorest’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Demorest ranks: 3,039th of 5,328 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 116 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 200 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,037 | Kingstown MD | 1,713 | $94K | 19.7% | 3.2% | 1% | C+ |
| 3,038 | Wyoming DE | 1,865 | $70K | 18.5% | 12.3% | 1% | C+ |
| 3,039 | Demorest GA | 2,262 | $78K | 10.9% | 7.4% | 3% | C+ |
| 3,040 | Deer Lodge MT | 3,025 | $60K | 7.2% | 3.3% | 31% | C+ |
| 3,041 | Lima Township IN | 2,453 | $74K | 8.3% | 9.5% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | 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 Demorest, 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 Demorest: questions
What is the median household income in Demorest?
$77,941 (±$25,678) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Demorest?
10.9%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Demorest?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Demorest work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cornelia (10%, 3 mi), Gainesville (9%, 25 mi), Clarkesville (4%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Demorest walkable?
Demorest is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Demorest without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Demorest, from the people who make the trip.
More of Demorest
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.