Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Nicholls have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
0% of workers have no commute at all (Georgia 16%). 30.2% of residents live below the poverty line; Georgia has 13.4%. Nicholls grades D− for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Nicholls and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
51% 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 ↓
Nicholls and Douglas trade workers both ways
Douglas is the top workplace for Nicholls residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Nicholls come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Nicholls workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical 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; with 627 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Nicholls gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Nicholls is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #247 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Nicholls’ grade up (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (4.8%) is left out: Nicholls’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Nicholls could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How far it is to work from Nicholls
About 51% 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.
19% of working residents work in Douglas
Where Nicholls clocks in
19% 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.
About 38 minutes to work from Nicholls
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nicholls workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 271 commuters (the 0% 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 daily commute in and out of Nicholls
On a workday 614 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 392 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.
0.65 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.
In Nicholls, services account for most jobs
405 jobs are based in Nicholls.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nicholls, 2013 → 2023: 194 → 405. 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 Nicholls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Nicholls walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Nicholls is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns, #253 of 263 in Georgia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 3.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 271 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). 11.6% of Nicholls households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Nicholls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Nicholls next to U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 275 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 357 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,441 | Middleport Township IL | 3,603 | $40K | 27.6% | 7.6% | 20% | D− |
| 4,442 | Manatee Road FL | 2,426 | $52K | 19.9% | 6.7% | 2% | D− |
| 4,443 | Nicholls GA | 3,317 | $44K | 30.2% | 4.8% | 2% | D− |
| 4,444 | Louisburg NC | 3,480 | $38K | 34.1% | 25.3% | 13% | D− |
| 4,445 | Richford VT | 2,316 | $57K | 19.5% | 12.1% | 25% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | 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 Nicholls, 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 Nicholls: questions
What is the median household income in Nicholls?
$43,977 (±$23,963) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nicholls?
30.2%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nicholls?
38 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nicholls work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Douglas (19%, 13 mi), Alma (6%, 10 mi), Jacksonville (4%, 100 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Nicholls walkable?
Nicholls is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nicholls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nicholls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nicholls
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.