Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Fitzgerald trail those of 97% of U.S. towns
For 3% of workers, the job is at home; Georgia has 16%. Poverty touches 27.8% of residents (Georgia 13.4%). Jobs and income earn Fitzgerald C−; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Fitzgerald, in brief
Commutes from Fitzgerald are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Fitzgerald workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Fitzgerald’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Few Fitzgerald workers work from home
Only 3% 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.
Inside Fitzgerald’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Fitzgerald’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($37,323, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fitzgerald could be anywhere from D to C.
About 14 minutes to work from Fitzgerald
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fitzgerald workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,808 commuters (the 3% 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.
Inside Fitzgerald’s 3,894 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fitzgerald, 2013 → 2023: 4,025 → 3,894. 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 Fitzgerald’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Fitzgerald
On a workday 2,157 residents head out to work, 920 work right here, and 2,974 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 (1.27 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.
6% of working residents work in Tifton
Where Fitzgerald clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
How far it is to work from Fitzgerald
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 Fitzgerald: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fitzgerald is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #88 of 263 in Georgia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,926 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). 9.7% of Fitzgerald households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Fitzgerald’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,609th of 2,907: where Fitzgerald ranks among U.S. towns of 6,200 to 12,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Tyrone GA | 8,091 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,607 | Center Township MO | 9,550 | $50K | 19.1% | 4.4% | 39% | C− |
| 2,608 | Pee Pee Township OH | 7,344 | $57K | 18.6% | 5.4% | 22% | C− |
| 2,609 | Fitzgerald GA | 8,882 | $37K | 27.8% | 3.2% | 30% | C− |
| 2,610 | Morgan City LA | 10,757 | $56K | 17.4% | 7.7% | 29% | C− |
| 2,611 | Bradford PA | 7,442 | $56K | 23.0% | 5.2% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,907 | 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 Fitzgerald, 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 Fitzgerald: questions
What is the median household income in Fitzgerald?
$37,323 (±$5,685) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fitzgerald?
27.8%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fitzgerald?
14 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fitzgerald work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tifton (6%, 24 mi), Ocilla (5%, 8 mi), Douglas (5%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fitzgerald walkable?
Fitzgerald is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fitzgerald without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fitzgerald, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fitzgerald
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.