Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Mount Vernon earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
Mount Vernon grades D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Mount Vernon is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 38.8% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.4% across Georgia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Mount Vernon
Fewer than half of Mount Vernon workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Mount Vernon’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 ↓
Many jobs in Mount Vernon pay little
28% of the jobs based in Mount Vernon pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 563 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Mount Vernon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mount Vernon is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Mount Vernon’s grade up (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (15.1%) is left out: Mount Vernon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mount Vernon stays D−.
In Mount Vernon, services account for most jobs
324 jobs are based in Mount Vernon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Vernon, 2013 → 2023: 357 → 324. 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 Mount Vernon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Mount Vernon works
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.
How many people are in Mount Vernon by day
On a workday 544 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 305 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Mount Vernon on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.58 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
27% of working residents work in Vidalia
Where Mount Vernon clocks in
27% of workers
6% 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.
Time on the road from Mount Vernon: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Vernon workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 602 commuters (the 9% 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 commute in Mount Vernon is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Vernon is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Mount Vernon 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 662 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). 11.4% of Mount Vernon households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mount Vernon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Mount Vernon sits among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 210 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,713 | Pahoa HI | 1,361 | $56K | 34.7% | 7.5% | 11% | D− |
| 5,714 | Tennille GA | 1,805 | $29K | 31.5% | 3.2% | 4% | D− |
| 5,715 | Mount Vernon GA | 1,925 | $33K | 38.8% | 15.1% | 3% | D− |
| 5,716 | Coushatta LA | 1,623 | $31K | 34.6% | 2.4% | 22% | D− |
| 5,717 | Wolf Point MT | 2,531 | $53K | 23.3% | 17.4% | 36% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Mount Vernon, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Work in the towns next to Mount Vernon
The biggest share goes to Ailey (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mount Vernon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Vernon | – | D− | C+ | 22 min | $32,933 |
| Ailey | 4% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Ailey: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mount Vernon’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 Mount Vernon: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Vernon?
$32,933 (±$8,995) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Vernon?
38.8%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Vernon?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Vernon work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vidalia (27%, 12 mi), Lyons (6%, 16 mi), Ailey (4%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Vernon walkable?
Mount Vernon is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Vernon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Vernon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Vernon
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.