Fort-Hammond-Willis House · Photo: Blastoids · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Hardwick trail those of 96% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 23.1%, next to 13.4% for Georgia as a whole. For jobs and income Hardwick is better than 10% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (C−). 5% of workers work from home; Georgia has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Hardwick
Hardwick and Milledgeville trade workers both ways
Milledgeville is the top workplace for Hardwick residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Hardwick come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Hardwick workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Hardwick’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Hardwick is a place people come home to
There are 336 jobs based in Hardwick, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Hardwick has about 2,500 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Hardwick than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Hardwick fell from 460 in 2013 to 336 in 2023, −27%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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.
What’s behind Hardwick’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Hardwick’s grade up (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($39,510, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hardwick could be anywhere from D− to C.
28% of working residents work in Milledgeville
Where Hardwick clocks in
28% of workers
7% of workers
3% 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.
The 336 jobs based in Hardwick
336 jobs are based in Hardwick.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hardwick, 2013 → 2023: 460 → 336. 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 Hardwick’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Hardwick
On a workday 1,196 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 308 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Hardwick on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.27 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.
Miles to work from Hardwick
About 37% 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.
About 32 minutes each way, longer than most of Georgia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hardwick workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,222 commuters (the 5% 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.
The commute in Hardwick is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.1% 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 1,282 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). 9.0% of Hardwick households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hardwick’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Hardwick sits among U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 275 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 353 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,990 | Swift Trail Junction AZ | 2,859 | $63K | 16.2% | 0.0% | 2% | D |
| 3,991 | Squaw Valley CA | 3,361 | $50K | 16.3% | 5.0% | 4% | D |
| 3,992 | Hardwick GA | 3,402 | $40K | 23.1% | 5.2% | 2% | D |
| 3,993 | Whiteman AFB MO | 3,517 | $55K | 13.3% | 3.6% | 5% | D |
| 3,994 | Cassville MO | 3,301 | $60K | 31.3% | 6.1% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | 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 Hardwick, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
28% of Hardwick works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hardwick workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwick | – | D | C− | 32 min | $39,510 |
| Milledgeville | 28% | D− | B− | 23 min | $41,616 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Milledgeville. Darker towns draw more of Hardwick’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 Hardwick: questions
What is the median household income in Hardwick?
$39,510 (±$5,346) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hardwick?
23.1%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hardwick?
32 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hardwick work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Milledgeville (28%, 3 mi), Macon-Bibb County (7%, 31 mi), Atlanta (3%, 84 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hardwick walkable?
Hardwick is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hardwick without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hardwick, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hardwick
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.