Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Manchester works elsewhere
Employers in Manchester report 712 jobs for 1,396 working residents. The two grades for Manchester are D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Manchester is behind 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Manchester and work: the main findings
Manchester’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Manchester is Columbus, 28 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (116) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Manchester than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Manchester fell from 998 in 2013 to 712 in 2023, −29%. 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 ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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 ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Manchester
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manchester is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #217 of 263 in Georgia. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Manchester’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manchester could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Manchester’s commute, mile by mile
About 33% 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.
The kinds of work in Manchester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manchester, 2013 → 2023: 998 → 712. 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 Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Manchester: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,261 residents head out to work, 135 work right here, and 577 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Manchester on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer 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.
8% of working residents work in Columbus
Where Manchester clocks in
8% of workers
6% 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.
Commuting from Manchester: about 30 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manchester workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,177 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.
For most of Manchester, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manchester is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns, #180 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 1,240 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). 7.3% of Manchester households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Manchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Manchester and other U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 285 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 367 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,090 | Smithfield Township OH | 2,903 | $58K | 12.6% | 12.6% | 4% | D |
| 4,091 | Paint Township OH | 4,882 | $53K | 17.3% | 5.9% | 1% | D |
| 4,092 | Manchester GA | 3,594 | $51K | 20.1% | 6.0% | 10% | D |
| 4,093 | Cobleskill NY | 4,623 | $46K | 16.2% | 6.8% | 19% | D |
| 4,094 | Parowan UT | 3,282 | $53K | 12.3% | 8.6% | 16% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,474 | 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 Manchester, 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 Manchester: questions
What is the median household income in Manchester?
$51,353 (±$10,228) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manchester?
20.1%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manchester?
30 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manchester work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbus (8%, 28 mi), LaGrange (6%, 26 mi), Atlanta (3%, 64 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manchester walkable?
Manchester is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manchester without a car?
1% 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 Manchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manchester
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.