Photo: Mjrmtg · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Pearson earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
Pearson grades D− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Measured by household income, Pearson is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 36.4% of residents live below the poverty line, where Georgia as a whole has 13.4%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Pearson in brief
Fewer than half of Pearson workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Pearson’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 15% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Pearson makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Pearson are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Pearson residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 35%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Pearson are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 61 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; with 561 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Pearson: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Pearson is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Pearson’s grade up (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($32,286, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (6.0%) is left out: Pearson’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, Pearson stays D−.
Pearson works in goods: 42% of its jobs
835 jobs are based in Pearson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pearson, 2013 → 2023: 888 → 835. 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 Pearson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes to work from Pearson
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pearson workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 747 commuters (the 6% 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 flow of workers through Pearson
On a workday 461 residents head out to work, 100 work right here, and 735 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Pearson on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.49 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.
20% of working residents work in Douglas
Where Pearson clocks in
20% 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.
The commute from Pearson, by distance
About 29% 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 commute in Pearson is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pearson is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Pearson 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 791 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). 17.2% of Pearson households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pearson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pearson next to 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 5,757 | Center CO | 1,890 | $46K | 19.9% | 18.1% | 20% | D− |
| 5,758 | Las Animas CO | 2,325 | $52K | 35.7% | 9.2% | 19% | D− |
| 5,759 | Pearson GA | 1,908 | $32K | 36.4% | 6.0% | 18% | D− |
| 5,760 | Rolling Fork MS | 1,387 | $46K | 24.5% | 6.9% | 24% | D− |
| 5,761 | Antlers OK | 2,186 | $36K | 26.2% | 8.6% | 32% | 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 Pearson, 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 Pearson: questions
What is the median household income in Pearson?
$32,286 (±$5,442) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pearson?
36.4%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pearson?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pearson work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Douglas (20%, 14 mi), Willacoochee (6%, 12 mi), Valdosta (3%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pearson walkable?
Pearson is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pearson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pearson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pearson
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.