Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0Making a living in Portal
Only 4% work in Portal itself; outside it, Statesboro draws the most (31%, 11 miles). 0% of workers have no commute at all; Georgia has 16%. A typical one-way commute lasts 31 minutes, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Portal, in a few figures
Portal and Statesboro trade workers both ways
Statesboro is the top workplace for Portal residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Portal come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 ↓
Few Portal 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 ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 256 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where people from Portal work
Where Portal clocks in
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 far it is to work from Portal
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
From Portal, about 31 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Portal workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 283 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 Portal
On a workday 246 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 187 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 (0.77 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Jobs in Portal: what the 197 are
197 jobs are based in Portal.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Portal, 2014 → 2024: 154 → 197. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Portal: questions
What is the median household income in Portal?
$62,083 (±$8,842) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Portal?
11.3%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Portal?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Portal work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Statesboro (31%, 11 mi), Savannah (6%, 56 mi), Garden City (3%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Portal without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Portal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Portal
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.