Elam-Camp House · Photo: Bubba73 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Gordon earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Gordon are D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Poverty touches 23.9% of residents; Georgia has 13.4%. 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Gordon, in brief
Gordon has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Gordon went from 488 in 2013 to 839 in 2023, +72%. The jobs ↓
Gordon makes and builds things
46% of the jobs based in Gordon are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Gordon residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 19%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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; with 597 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Gordon’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Gordon is better than 5% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Gordon’s grade.
Unemployment (1.6%) is left out: Gordon’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, Gordon could be anywhere from D− to D.
Goods jobs make up 46% of work in Gordon
839 jobs are based in Gordon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gordon, 2013 → 2023: 488 → 839. 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 Gordon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Gordon
About 32% 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 Gordon, and who commutes in
On a workday 548 residents head out to work, 49 work right here, and 790 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Gordon on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.41 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.
19% of working residents work in Macon-Bibb County
Where Gordon clocks in
19% of workers
12% 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 long Gordon spends getting to work: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gordon workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 861 commuters (the 4% 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.
Gordon is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gordon is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Gordon 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 894 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). 11.6% of Gordon households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gordon’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Gordon compares with U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,272 | Murfreesboro AR | 1,443 | $53K | 20.7% | 3.7% | 24% | D− |
| 5,273 | Diaz AR | 1,200 | $49K | 25.1% | 7.2% | 6% | D− |
| 5,274 | Gordon GA | 1,720 | $47K | 23.9% | 1.6% | 8% | D− |
| 5,275 | Linn MO | 1,453 | $36K | 25.5% | 0.2% | 16% | D− |
| 5,276 | Wolcott NY | 1,558 | $43K | 20.8% | 4.3% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Gordon, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Around Gordon: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Gordon’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Gordon: questions
What is the median household income in Gordon?
$47,243 (±$12,483) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gordon?
23.9%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gordon?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gordon work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Macon-Bibb County (19%, 22 mi), Milledgeville (12%, 15 mi), Irwinton (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gordon walkable?
Gordon is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gordon without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gordon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gordon
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.