Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Enigma’s
Jobs and income earn Enigma D−; getting around on foot earns it D−. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 49.7% of residents, against 13.4% across Georgia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Enigma and work: the main findings
Enigma is a place people come home to
There are 11 jobs based in Enigma, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Enigma has about 760 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Enigma workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Enigma workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 358 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Enigma: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Enigma is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Enigma’s grade up (ahead of 23% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Enigma’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Enigma could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who commutes out of Enigma, and who commutes in
On a workday 357 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 10 people come in from elsewhere.
About 760 people are in Enigma on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
0.03 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 37 minutes to work from Enigma
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Enigma workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 272 commuters (the 2% 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.
23% of working residents work in Tifton
Where Enigma clocks in
23% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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 the 11 jobs in Enigma are
11 jobs are based in Enigma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Enigma, 2013 → 2023: 68 → 11. 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 Enigma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Enigma
About 24% 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 Enigma walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Enigma is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Enigma 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 278 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). 4.8% of Enigma households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Enigma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Enigma sits among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Clermont GA | 1,165 | $136K | 4.7% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 510 | Robins AFB GA | 1,193 | $107K | 5.9% | 9.9% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,600 | Kaibab Estates West AZ | 1,403 | $39K | 16.5% | 2.7% | 0% | D− |
| 3,601 | Waldo AR | 1,100 | $41K | 23.7% | 3.7% | 1% | D− |
| 3,602 | Enigma GA | 1,106 | $32K | 49.7% | 1.8% | <1% | D− |
| 3,603 | Vienna IL | 1,352 | $41K | 33.6% | 1.2% | 16% | D− |
| 3,604 | Horton KS | 1,460 | $41K | 22.4% | 5.9% | 16% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Enigma, 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 Enigma: questions
What is the median household income in Enigma?
$32,361 (±$23,360) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Enigma?
49.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Enigma?
37 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Enigma work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tifton (23%, 12 mi), Nashville (9%, 14 mi), Valdosta (6%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Enigma walkable?
Enigma is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Enigma 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 Enigma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Enigma
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.