Photo: Chris M Morris · CC BY 2.0Work and commuting in Plains
A typical one-way commute lasts 23 minutes; Georgia averages 28, the U.S. 26. For 0% of workers, the job is at home (Georgia 16%). Only 3% stay in Plains for work; outside it, Americus is the main destination (22%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Plains and work: the main findings
Plains and Americus trade workers both ways
Americus is the top workplace for Plains residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Plains come from (25% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Plains workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Plains are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 38 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 224 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Out of Plains to work: where people go
Where Plains clocks in
22% of workers
5% 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.
Plains’ commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plains workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 220 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.
Plains quiets down on a workday
On a workday 217 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 122 people come in from elsewhere.
About 440 people are in Plains on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
What Plains’ employers do
129 jobs are based in Plains.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plains, 2013 → 2023: 233 → 129. 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 Plains’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Plains commutes
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.
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 Plains: questions
What is the median household income in Plains?
$38,294 (±$8,324) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plains?
16.1%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plains?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plains work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Americus (22%, 10 mi), Albany (5%, 34 mi), Richland (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Plains 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 Plains, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plains
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.