Banks County Courthouse · Photo: Calvin Beale · Public domainHouseholds in Homer earn more than those in 67% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Homer B; getting around on foot earns it C. The poverty rate is 8.5%, where Georgia as a whole has 13.4%. For 8% of workers, the job is at home (Georgia 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Homer stands out on work
Homer workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 36 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 276 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Homer than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Homer fell from 656 in 2013 to 447 in 2023, −32%. 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; with 569 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Homer’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Homer is better than 63% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($89,083, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (3.5%) is left out: Homer’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Homer could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Homer’s commute takes about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Homer workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 777 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.
What Homer’s employers do
447 jobs are based in Homer.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Homer, 2013 → 2023: 656 → 447. 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 Homer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Homer
On a workday 555 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 433 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 (0.79 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 the trip to work from Homer ends
Where Homer clocks in
8% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Homer
About 22% 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.
Driving is how Homer gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Homer is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Homer 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 840 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). 7.0% of Homer households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Homer’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,500th of 5,509: where Homer ranks among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 200 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,498 | Fayston VT | 1,400 | $110K | 4.2% | 3.3% | 16% | B |
| 1,499 | Choccolocco AL | 2,620 | $79K | 8.6% | 1.1% | 1% | B |
| 1,500 | Homer GA | 2,016 | $89K | 8.5% | 3.5% | 2% | B |
| 1,501 | Halstead KS | 2,132 | $76K | 10.8% | 2.0% | 12% | B |
| 1,502 | Butler WI | 1,752 | $60K | 11.8% | 2.7% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Homer, 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 Homer: questions
What is the median household income in Homer?
$89,083 (±$19,576) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Homer?
8.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Homer?
36 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Homer work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gainesville (8%, 19 mi), Commerce (6%, 9 mi), Athens (4%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Homer walkable?
Homer is more walkable than 31% 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 Homer without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Homer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Homer
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.