With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Sterling works elsewhere
There are 434 jobs in Sterling, against 970 working residents. Sterling grades C for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 1% work in Sterling itself; outside it, Brunswick draws the most (28%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Sterling: the gist
Sterling makes and builds things
57% of the jobs based in Sterling are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Sterling residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 12%. The jobs ↓
28% of Sterling works in Brunswick
269 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Brunswick, 9.9 miles away. That’s 28 times as many as work in Sterling itself. The commute map ↓
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 970 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Sterling: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sterling is better than 30% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Sterling’s grade up ($86,103, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sterling could be anywhere from D to A−.
Making and building: 57% of jobs based in Sterling
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sterling, 2013 → 2023: 375 → 434. 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 Sterling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting out of Sterling: the destinations
Where Sterling clocks in
28% of workers
7% 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 daily commute in and out of Sterling
On a workday 956 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 420 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Sterling on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer 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.
About 25 minutes to work from Sterling
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sterling workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 909 commuters (the 12% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Sterling
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.
For most of Sterling, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sterling is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns. 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 1,035 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). 2.8% of Sterling households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sterling’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sterling places 3,245th of 5,148 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,243 | Alexander Township OH | 2,749 | $81K | 10.1% | 6.7% | 3% | C |
| 3,244 | East Bronson FL | 2,649 | $52K | 30.7% | 0.0% | 1% | C |
| 3,245 | Sterling GA | 2,091 | $86K | 15.4% | 5.9% | 1% | C |
| 3,246 | Creola AL | 1,963 | $67K | 18.3% | 2.5% | 2% | C |
| 3,247 | Jean Lafitte LA | 1,858 | $64K | 13.1% | 16.1% | 7% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Sterling, 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 Sterling: questions
What is the median household income in Sterling?
$86,103 (±$22,871) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sterling?
15.4%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sterling?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sterling work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brunswick (28%, 10 mi), Dock Junction (9%, 5 mi), St. Simons (7%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sterling walkable?
Sterling is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sterling without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sterling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sterling
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.