Photo: John Trainor · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Jackson are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Jackson D; getting around on foot earns it C+. Poverty touches 19.4% of residents, against 13.4% across Georgia. 8% of workers have no commute at all, 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
Work in Jackson: the figures worth knowing
No single place dominates Jackson’s commute
The biggest draw, Atlanta, gets only 5% of working residents, and 63% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Jackson residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Jackson is where the jobs are
Jackson has 3,452 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Jackson are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 46 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Jackson
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jackson is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #204 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Jackson’s grade up (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($46,191, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jackson could be anywhere from D to B.
Commuting in to Jackson: where workers come from
Where Jackson clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
Jackson fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,952 residents head out to work, 296 work right here, and 3,156 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Jackson on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Time on the road from Jackson: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jackson workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,029 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.
The kinds of work in Jackson
3,452 jobs are based in Jackson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jackson, 2013 → 2023: 2,614 → 3,452. 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 Jackson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Jackson commutes
About 17% 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.
In Jackson, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jackson is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #190 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,198 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). 6.6% of Jackson households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jackson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jackson places 3,041st of 3,432 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900
| # | 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 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 395 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,039 | Grayling Township MI | 5,892 | $65K | 11.8% | 7.4% | 14% | D |
| 3,040 | Hawkinsville GA | 4,789 | $40K | 22.3% | 3.1% | 12% | D |
| 3,041 | Jackson GA | 5,884 | $46K | 19.4% | 5.7% | 13% | D |
| 3,042 | Paintsville KY | 4,111 | $28K | 32.9% | 3.0% | 30% | D |
| 3,043 | Charleroi PA | 4,112 | $43K | 30.8% | 7.1% | 12% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Jackson, 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 Jackson: questions
What is the median household income in Jackson?
$46,191 (±$8,741) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jackson?
19.4%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jackson?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jackson work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (5%, 42 mi), McDonough (4%, 15 mi), Griffin (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jackson walkable?
Jackson is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jackson 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 Jackson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jackson
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.