Rock Spring draws 706 commuters a day, with 2.1 jobs for every working resident
There are 712 jobs in Rock Spring, against 337 working residents. Rock Spring grades B+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Rock Spring apart
Rock Spring is where the jobs are
Rock Spring has 712 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Rock Spring makes and builds things
60% of the jobs based in Rock Spring are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Rock Spring residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Rock Spring has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Rock Spring went from 384 in 2013 to 712 in 2023, +85%. The jobs ↓
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 337 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Rock Spring: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Rock Spring is better than 71% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Rock Spring’s grade up ($117,925, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (11.1%) is left out: Rock Spring’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Rock Spring could be anywhere from D to A.
The daily flow of workers through Rock Spring
On a workday 331 residents head out to work and 6 work right here.
About 1,600 people are in Rock Spring on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Factories, building and farms: 60% of the jobs in Rock Spring
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rock Spring, 2013 → 2023: 384 → 712. 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 Rock Spring’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Rock Spring
Where Rock Spring clocks in
22% 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.
About 29 minutes to work from Rock Spring
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rock Spring workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 484 commuters (the 9% 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.
Rock Spring’s commute, mile by mile
About 23% 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.
Rock Spring is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rock Spring is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 529 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). 6.6% of Rock Spring households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rock Spring’s commuters take a bus or train.
695th of 4,312: where Rock Spring ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 256 | Cataula GA | 1,522 | $124K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 258 | Clermont GA | 1,165 | $136K | 4.7% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 693 | Gilmer Township IL | 1,126 | $85K | 2.0% | 2.6% | <1% | B+ |
| 694 | Patterson Township OH | 1,422 | $101K | 5.2% | 0.2% | 5% | B+ |
| 695 | Rock Spring GA | 1,183 | $118K | 6.7% | 11.1% | 2% | B+ |
| 696 | Osino NV | 1,341 | $93K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 697 | Middleville Township MN | 1,041 | $118K | 6.7% | 3.1% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Rock Spring, 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 Rock Spring: questions
What is the median household income in Rock Spring?
$117,925 (±$102,685) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rock Spring?
6.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rock Spring?
29 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rock Spring work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (22%, 17 mi), LaFayette (12%, 8 mi), Dalton (8%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rock Spring walkable?
Rock Spring is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rock Spring without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rock Spring, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rock Spring
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.