Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Where Perry earns its living
There are 7,882 jobs in Perry; 8,468 of its residents have a job. Perry grades C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. The trip to work takes 22 minutes on average (Georgia 28, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Perry apart
Perry trades workers with the towns around it
Perry has about as many jobs (7,882) as working residents (8,468), but they are mostly different people: 7,154 residents leave for work each day while 6,568 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Perry are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Perry and Warner Robins trade workers both ways
Warner Robins is the top workplace for Perry residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Perry come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Perry 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 ↓
Perry draws workers from far and wide
The 7,882 jobs in Perry are filled from a wide area. Perry’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 24%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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 Perry
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Perry is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #126 of 263 in Georgia. Household income holds Perry’s grade up ($76,909, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Perry could be anywhere from C− to B.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 7,154 residents head out to work, 1,314 work right here, and 6,568 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.93 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.
22% of working residents work in Warner Robins
Where Perry clocks in
22% of workers
14% 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.
How long Perry spends getting to work: 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 Perry workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,695 commuters (the 12% 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 Perry
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Perry, 2013 → 2023: 6,134 → 7,882. 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 Perry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Perry, by distance
About 27% 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.
Getting around Perry: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Perry is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #103 of 263 in Georgia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,971 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). 5.5% of Perry households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Perry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 18,000 to 35,000, Perry ranks 1,211th of 1,576 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Holly Springs GA | 20,261 | $114K | 3.9% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 302 | Decatur GA | 25,276 | $139K | 6.2% | 4.3% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 383 | Braselton GA | 18,496 | $121K | 6.2% | 3.4% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,209 | Zephyrhills FL | 22,447 | $52K | 13.2% | 3.7% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,210 | Hampton Township IL | 21,050 | $64K | 15.9% | 4.8% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,211 | Perry GA | 25,699 | $77K | 13.9% | 4.6% | 16% | C+ |
| 1,212 | Lindenwold NJ | 21,952 | $56K | 21.1% | 4.6% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,213 | Bayou Cane LA | 21,253 | $74K | 16.0% | 5.0% | 19% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,576 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Perry, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Work next door: 22% of Perry’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Perry workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perry | – | C+ | B | 22 min | $76,909 |
| Warner Robins | 22% | C | C+ | 22 min | $66,970 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Warner Robins. Darker towns draw more of Perry’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 Perry: questions
What is the median household income in Perry?
$76,909 (±$11,163) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Perry?
13.9%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Perry?
22 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Perry work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Warner Robins (22%, 10 mi), Macon-Bibb County (14%, 23 mi), Fort Valley (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Perry walkable?
Perry is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Perry without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Perry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Perry
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.