Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Summerville has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Below the poverty line: 25.5% of residents (Georgia 13.4%). Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Summerville grades D for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Summerville apart
Summerville trades workers with the towns around it
Summerville has about as many jobs (1,754) as working residents (1,776), but they are mostly different people: 1,578 residents leave for work each day while 1,556 people come in. Only 11% of the jobs in Summerville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Summerville than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Summerville fell from 2,907 in 2014 to 1,754 in 2024, −40%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Summerville workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Summerville workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Summerville
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Summerville is better than 13% of U.S. towns, #207 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Summerville’s grade up (3.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($32,662, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Summerville could be anywhere from D− to C.
How many people are in Summerville by day
On a workday 1,578 residents head out to work, 198 work right here, and 1,556 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 (0.99 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Making and building: 31% of jobs based in Summerville
1,754 jobs are based in Summerville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Summerville, 2014 → 2024: 2,907 → 1,754. 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 Summerville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Summerville’s commute takes about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Summerville workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,483 commuters (the 1% 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.
14% of working residents work in LaFayette
Where Summerville 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Summerville
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Summerville is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Summerville is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #93 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% 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 1,503 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). 17.3% of Summerville households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Summerville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Summerville is 3,567th of 4,000 U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,000 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 279 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,565 | Stanley WI | 3,876 | $48K | 20.0% | 5.0% | 12% | D |
| 3,566 | Fort Meade FL | 5,379 | $37K | 21.9% | 5.3% | 7% | D |
| 3,567 | Summerville GA | 4,440 | $33K | 25.5% | 3.9% | 11% | D |
| 3,568 | McCall ID | 4,133 | $60K | 16.0% | 5.4% | 47% | D |
| 3,569 | Delhi NY | 3,526 | $58K | 17.4% | 5.2% | 17% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | 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 Summerville, 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 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 Summerville: questions
What is the median household income in Summerville?
$32,662 (±$6,084) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Summerville?
25.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Summerville?
35 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Summerville work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are LaFayette (14%, 16 mi), Rome (9%, 17 mi), Calhoun (4%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Summerville walkable?
Summerville is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Summerville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Summerville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Summerville
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.