Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0St. Simons’ household incomes are higher than in 83% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in St. Simons itself; outside it, Brunswick draws the most (20%, 6 miles). The poverty rate is 4.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia. St. Simons grades A− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in St. Simons
Commutes from St. Simons are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
St. Simons trades workers with the towns around it
St. Simons has about as many jobs (5,740) as working residents (4,860), but they are mostly different people: 3,406 residents leave for work each day while 4,286 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in St. Simons are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most St. Simons residents work close to home
63% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The figures behind St. Simons’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. Simons is better than 77% of U.S. towns, #40 of 263 in Georgia. The poverty rate holds St. Simons’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. Simons could be anywhere from B to A.
About 18 minutes to work from St. Simons
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Simons workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,818 commuters (the 17% 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.
How many people are in St. Simons by day
On a workday 3,406 residents head out to work, 1,454 work right here, and 4,286 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 (1.18 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from St. Simons
About 31% 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.
Out of St. Simons to work: where people go
Where St. Simons clocks in
20% 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.
What St. Simons’ employers do
5,740 jobs are based in St. Simons.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Simons, 2013 → 2023: 4,670 → 5,740. 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 St. Simons’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in St. Simons is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Simons is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #121 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% of 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 7,015 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). 2.0% of St. Simons households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of St. Simons’ commuters take a bus or train.
St. Simons is 812th of 2,220 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 22,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Holly Springs GA | 20,261 | $114K | 3.9% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 300 | Vinings GA | 14,390 | $95K | 6.2% | 2.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 375 | Flowery Branch GA | 13,110 | $104K | 6.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 810 | Schodack NY | 12,892 | $108K | 6.1% | 4.3% | 10% | A− |
| 811 | South Whitehall Township PA | 21,655 | $103K | 7.0% | 4.9% | 10% | A− |
| 812 | St. Simons GA | 16,228 | $109K | 4.5% | 2.8% | 30% | A− |
| 813 | Lorton VA | 20,991 | $139K | 7.4% | 6.5% | 2% | A− |
| 814 | Sartell MN | 19,918 | $84K | 7.4% | 2.2% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,220 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 St. Simons, 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 St. Simons: questions
What is the median household income in St. Simons?
$108,771 (±$7,292) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Simons?
4.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Simons?
18 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Simons work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brunswick (20%, 6 mi), Dock Junction (4%, 8 mi), Jacksonville (3%, 61 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Simons walkable?
St. Simons is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Simons without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Simons, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Simons
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.