Effingham County Jail · Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Springfield (2.4%) is lower than in 79% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, against 16% across Georgia. For jobs and income Springfield is better than 54% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (C+). Only 7% stay in Springfield for work; outside it, Savannah is the main destination (18%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Springfield apart on work
Springfield’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Springfield is Savannah, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (230) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Springfield workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Nearly all the work in Springfield is services
87% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
Jobs & income in Springfield: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Springfield’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($62,957, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Springfield could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Springfield
About 18% 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.
How long Springfield spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Springfield workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,435 commuters (the 3% 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.
Springfield is a services town
1,675 jobs are based in Springfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Springfield, 2013 → 2023: 1,404 → 1,675. 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 Springfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Springfield for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,160 residents head out to work, 88 work right here, and 1,587 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in Springfield on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 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.
Where Springfield’s working residents head each day
Where Springfield clocks in
Lines 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.
Most of Springfield commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,482 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). 5.6% of Springfield households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Springfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,081st of 4,593: where Springfield ranks among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 357 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,079 | Blackhawk SD | 2,934 | $72K | 1.8% | 6.7% | 4% | B− |
| 2,080 | Marshall VA | 3,219 | $94K | 20.6% | 2.8% | 6% | B− |
| 2,081 | Springfield GA | 3,344 | $63K | 8.4% | 2.4% | 7% | B− |
| 2,082 | Osceola IN | 2,586 | $67K | 14.5% | 3.0% | 1% | B− |
| 2,083 | Washington Township PA | 4,364 | $94K | 5.1% | 8.3% | 9% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | 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 Springfield, 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 Springfield: questions
What is the median household income in Springfield?
$62,957 (±$18,512) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Springfield?
8.4%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Springfield?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Springfield work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Savannah (18%, 26 mi), Pooler (10%, 19 mi), Rincon (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Springfield walkable?
Springfield is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Springfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Springfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Springfield
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.