Photo: Mjrmtg · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Quitman’s
Below the poverty line: 42.6% of residents, next to 13.4% for Georgia as a whole. Measured by household income, Quitman is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. For jobs and income Quitman is better than 17% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Quitman
Quitman trades workers with the towns around it
Quitman has about as many jobs (1,260) as working residents (1,263), but they are mostly different people: 1,057 residents leave for work each day while 1,054 people come in. Only 16% of the jobs in Quitman are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Quitman workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Quitman’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Quitman 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.
Why Quitman gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Quitman’s grade up (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($19,324, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Quitman could be anywhere from D− to C.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,057 residents head out to work, 206 work right here, and 1,054 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 (1.00 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.
Inside Quitman’s 1,260 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Quitman, 2013 → 2023: 1,426 → 1,260. 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 Quitman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Quitman’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Quitman workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,058 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.
23% of working residents work in Valdosta
Where Quitman clocks in
23% 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.
The commute from Quitman, by distance
About 26% 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.
Quitman is a driving town
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Georgia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,124 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). 18.1% of Quitman households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Quitman’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Quitman is 3,521st among 4,177 U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 353 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,519 | Commercial Township NJ | 4,767 | $56K | 19.6% | 5.8% | 5% | C− |
| 3,520 | Lake Shastina CA | 3,001 | $81K | 12.2% | 9.5% | 3% | C− |
| 3,521 | Quitman GA | 4,032 | $19K | 42.6% | 2.9% | 16% | C− |
| 3,522 | Athens PA | 3,205 | $53K | 12.8% | 9.4% | 8% | C− |
| 3,523 | Bishop TX | 3,040 | $58K | 24.7% | 6.3% | 8% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | 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 Quitman, 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 Quitman: questions
What is the median household income in Quitman?
$19,324 (±$2,630) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Quitman?
42.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Quitman?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Quitman work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Valdosta (23%, 17 mi), Thomasville (5%, 25 mi), Moultrie (3%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Quitman walkable?
Quitman is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Quitman without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Quitman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Quitman
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.