Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Rossville has higher unemployment (8.5%) than 90% of U.S. towns
For 5% of workers, the job is at home; Georgia has 16%. Jobs and income earn Rossville C−; getting around on foot earns it C. Measured by household income, Rossville is behind 75% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Rossville
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Rossville’s working residents have a job less than 7 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 53 minutes, longer than the Georgia average of 28. Time on the road ↓
Many Rossville workers cross into Tennessee
65% of Rossville workers work outside Georgia, most of them in Tennessee, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
40% of Rossville works in Chattanooga
507 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Chattanooga, TN, 6.7 miles away across the town line. That’s 13 times as many as work in Rossville itself. The commute map ↓
Most Rossville residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Rossville’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rossville is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #194 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Rossville’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rossville could be anywhere from D to B.
Commuting from Rossville: about 53 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 16.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rossville workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,601 commuters (the 5% 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.
40% of working residents work in Chattanooga
Where Rossville clocks in
40% 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 Rossville’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
How many people are in Rossville by day
On a workday 1,222 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 765 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Rossville on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.64 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 2024, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Rossville
804 jobs are based in Rossville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rossville, 2014 → 2024: 899 → 804. 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 Rossville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Rossville is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rossville is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns, #211 of 263 in Georgia. 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 1,680 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). 12.4% of Rossville households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rossville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,364 U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,300, Rossville comes 3,655th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 277 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 357 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,653 | Mexico ME | 2,779 | $56K | 19.7% | 3.4% | 10% | C− |
| 3,654 | Sonora CA | 4,866 | $83K | 16.9% | 12.4% | 19% | C− |
| 3,655 | Rossville GA | 3,922 | $59K | 14.1% | 8.5% | 3% | C− |
| 3,656 | Calabash NC | 3,069 | $65K | 17.6% | 4.9% | 10% | C− |
| 3,657 | West Orange TX | 3,391 | $60K | 22.9% | 8.4% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,364 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Rossville, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Work next door: 40% of Rossville’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Chattanooga. Darker towns draw more of Rossville’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 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 Rossville: questions
What is the median household income in Rossville?
$59,191 (±$17,939) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rossville?
14.1%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rossville?
53 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rossville work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chattanooga (40%, 7 mi), Fort Oglethorpe (6%, 4 mi), Dalton (3%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Rossville walkable?
Rossville is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rossville 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 Rossville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rossville
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. 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.