Helen draws 1,149 commuters a day, with 5.1 jobs for every working resident
4% of workers work from home; Georgia has 16%. Helen has 1,188 jobs, against 231 working residents. About one in seven stay in Helen for work; outside it, Gainesville is the main destination (4%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Helen: the figures worth knowing
Helen fills up on a workday
Helen has 1,188 jobs, 5.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 1,600 people are in town, more than double the 630 who live here. Day and night ↓
Helen has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Helen went from 621 in 2013 to 1,188 in 2023, +91%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Helen
55% of Helen residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 21% of the jobs based in Helen pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 83% leave town for their job. 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; with 231 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The daily commute in and out of Helen
On a workday 192 residents head out to work and 39 work right here.
About 1,600 people are in Helen on a workday afternoon, 152% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Helen, 2013 → 2023: 621 → 1,188. 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 Helen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Helen’s workforce comes from
Where Helen clocks in
4% 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.
About 26 minutes each way, quicker than most of Georgia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Helen workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 151 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.
How far Helen goes to work
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.
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 Helen: questions
What is the median household income in Helen?
$86,023 (±$20,491) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Helen?
5.3%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Helen?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Helen work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gainesville (4%, 29 mi), Atlanta (4%, 76 mi), Clarkesville (2%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Helen without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Helen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Helen
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.