Photo: Brian31 at English Wikipedia · Public domainHouseholds in Elberton earn less than those in 88% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 25.7% of residents, next to 13.4% for Georgia as a whole. Elberton grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. For 5% of workers, the job is at home, next to 16% for Georgia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Elberton in brief
Elberton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Elberton is Athens, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (183) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Elberton’s grade explained
Unemployment holds Elberton’s grade up (3.9%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elberton could be anywhere from D to C+.
How far it is to work from Elberton
About 35% 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.
Who commutes out of Elberton, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,665 residents head out to work, 457 work right here, and 2,597 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,800 people are in Elberton on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 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.
9% of working residents work in Athens
Where Elberton clocks in
2% 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.
What Elberton’s employers do
3,054 jobs are based in Elberton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elberton, 2013 → 2023: 2,948 → 3,054. 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 Elberton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Georgia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elberton workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,889 commuters (the 5% 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.
Getting around Elberton: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elberton is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #157 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 1,994 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). 9.0% of Elberton households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elberton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Elberton is 3,296th of 3,840 U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,294 | Maquoketa IA | 6,027 | $60K | 14.2% | 8.6% | 34% | C− |
| 3,295 | Rockingham VT | 4,697 | $71K | 16.7% | 7.8% | 22% | C− |
| 3,296 | Elberton GA | 4,890 | $50K | 25.7% | 3.9% | 22% | C− |
| 3,297 | Rushville IN | 6,171 | $53K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 25% | C− |
| 3,298 | McKenzie TN | 5,632 | $37K | 21.2% | 4.0% | 21% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,840 | 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 Elberton, 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 Elberton: questions
What is the median household income in Elberton?
$50,059 (±$9,955) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elberton?
25.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elberton?
24 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elberton work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Athens (9%, 30 mi), Atlanta (2%, 92 mi), Lavonia (2%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elberton walkable?
Elberton is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elberton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elberton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elberton
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.