Photo: Bubba73 (Jud McCranie) · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Fort Valley trail those of 88% of U.S. towns
Fort Valley grades D for jobs and income and B for walkability. The poverty rate is 29.6%, next to 13.4% for Georgia as a whole. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers; Georgia has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fort Valley, in a few figures
Fort Valley is where the jobs are
Fort Valley has 4,745 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fort Valley makes and builds things
48% of the jobs based in Fort Valley are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Fort Valley residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Fort Valley pay better than its residents’ jobs
68% of the jobs based in Fort Valley pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 47% of the jobs Fort Valley residents hold. 89% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Fort Valley. The jobs ↓
Few Fort Valley 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 ↓
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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Fort Valley’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Valley is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #229 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Fort Valley’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Valley could be anywhere from D− to C−.
A workday in Fort Valley: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,289 residents head out to work, 531 work right here, and 4,214 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Fort Valley on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.7 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 2024, primary jobs.
Goods, not services: 48% of the jobs in Fort Valley
4,745 jobs are based in Fort Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Valley, 2014 → 2024: 5,062 → 4,745. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Fort Valley: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Valley workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,641 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Fort Valley
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Commuting in to Fort Valley: where workers come from
Where Fort Valley clocks in
13% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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.
Fort Valley is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Valley is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #118 of 263 in Georgia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,754 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). 12.7% of Fort Valley households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fort Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Fort Valley sits among U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Tyrone GA | 8,091 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 416 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 580 | Druid Hills GA | 8,169 | $130K | 9.3% | 3.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,717 | Martin TN | 11,060 | $43K | 26.3% | 6.4% | 31% | D |
| 2,718 | Douglas GA | 11,864 | $34K | 29.7% | 6.4% | 45% | D |
| 2,719 | Fort Valley GA | 9,220 | $50K | 29.6% | 7.4% | 19% | D |
| 2,720 | Philadelphia MS | 6,858 | $51K | 25.6% | 8.0% | 27% | D |
| 2,721 | West Frankfort IL | 7,105 | $48K | 29.0% | 15.2% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,810 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Fort Valley, 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 2024, 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 Fort Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Valley?
$50,283 (±$10,221) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Valley?
29.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Valley?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Valley work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Macon-Bibb County (13%, 21 mi), Warner Robins (9%, 14 mi), Perry (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Valley walkable?
Fort Valley is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Valley without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Valley
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.