Households in Grayson earn more than those in 92% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 3.5% of residents; Georgia has 13.4%. Jobs and income earn Grayson A+; getting around on foot earns it B. Only 2% work in Grayson itself; outside it, Atlanta draws the most (12%, 28 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Grayson
Grayson trades workers with the towns around it
Grayson has about as many jobs (2,269) as working residents (1,976), but they are mostly different people: 1,941 residents leave for work each day while 2,234 people come in. Only 2% of the jobs in Grayson are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Grayson’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Grayson is Atlanta, 28 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (240) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Grayson has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Grayson went from 1,489 in 2013 to 2,269 in 2023, +52%. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Grayson are held by workers 29 or younger, against 20% of Grayson’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Grayson’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Grayson is among the top U.S. towns, #2 of 263 in Georgia. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Grayson’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grayson could be anywhere from A to A+.
Who works in Grayson, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,941 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 2,234 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 (1.15 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.
Where in the region Grayson works
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.
What work there is in Grayson: 2,269 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grayson, 2013 → 2023: 1,489 → 2,269. 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 Grayson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Grayson’s working residents head each day
Where Grayson clocks in
12% of workers
7% 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.
Commuting from Grayson: about 30 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grayson workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,057 commuters (the 8% 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.
Grayson is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grayson is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #125 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 2,247 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.8% of Grayson households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Grayson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Grayson places 67th of 3,502 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Genesee WI | 7,235 | $119K | 3.3% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 66 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 67 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 68 | Centerville MN | 3,978 | $123K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| 69 | Trappe PA | 4,061 | $127K | 4.5% | 1.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 397 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 537 | Whitemarsh Island GA | 6,886 | $102K | 3.9% | 3.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | 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 Grayson, 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 Grayson: questions
What is the median household income in Grayson?
$131,293 (±$5,208) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grayson?
3.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grayson?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grayson work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (12%, 28 mi), Lawrenceville (7%, 5 mi), Alpharetta (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grayson walkable?
Grayson is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grayson without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grayson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grayson
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.