Photo: Upstateherd · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Hartwell (0.8%) than in 96% of U.S. towns
Hartwell grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns. For 6% of workers, the job is at home, next to 16% for Georgia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Hartwell, in brief
No single place dominates Hartwell’s commute
The biggest draw, Athens, gets only 5% of working residents, and 62% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Hartwell residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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 ↓
Commutes from Hartwell are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. 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.
Why Hartwell gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hartwell is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #117 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Hartwell’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($49,280, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hartwell could be anywhere from C to B.
5% of working residents work in Athens
Where Hartwell clocks in
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.
How far Hartwell’s workers travel
About 39% 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 23 minutes each way, quicker than most of Georgia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hartwell workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,984 commuters (the 6% 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.
Who works in Hartwell, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,792 residents head out to work, 344 work right here, and 2,726 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,800 people are in Hartwell on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 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.
What Hartwell’s employers do
3,070 jobs are based in Hartwell.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hartwell, 2013 → 2023: 3,531 → 3,070. 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 Hartwell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Hartwell walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hartwell is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #81 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Hartwell 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 2,120 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). 13.9% of Hartwell households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hartwell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hartwell next to U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,600: 2,303rd of 3,840 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,301 | Lanier Township OH | 3,691 | $63K | 8.7% | 5.3% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,302 | Harrison Township OH | 4,257 | $77K | 13.1% | 4.8% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,303 | Hartwell GA | 4,914 | $49K | 12.7% | 0.8% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,304 | Tolono IL | 3,499 | $70K | 4.6% | 11.4% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,305 | Westville NJ | 4,357 | $71K | 15.4% | 7.1% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,840 | 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 Hartwell, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Next door to Hartwell
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hartwell workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hartwell | – | C+ | B+ | 23 min | $49,280 |
| Reed Creek | under 2% | B | D | 46 min | $76,973 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hartwell’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 Hartwell: questions
What is the median household income in Hartwell?
$49,280 (±$5,359) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hartwell?
12.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hartwell?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hartwell work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Athens (5%, 37 mi), Lavonia (5%, 12 mi), Atlanta (3%, 95 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hartwell walkable?
Hartwell is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hartwell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hartwell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hartwell
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.