Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY 3.0Swainsboro has higher unemployment (13.8%) than 98% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Swainsboro D−; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in four work in Swainsboro; the top destination outside it is Stillmore (5%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Swainsboro
Swainsboro is where the jobs are
Swainsboro has 4,287 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Swainsboro workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Swainsboro’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 17% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Swainsboro
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Swainsboro is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #250 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Swainsboro’s grade up (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Swainsboro could be anywhere from D− to D.
Swainsboro fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,826 residents head out to work, 756 work right here, and 3,531 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,100 people are in Swainsboro on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
What Swainsboro’s employers do
4,287 jobs are based in Swainsboro.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Swainsboro, 2014 → 2024: 4,231 → 4,287. 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 Swainsboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Swainsboro, by distance
About 33% 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.
Where the people who work in Swainsboro live
Where Swainsboro clocks in
5% 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 trip from Swainsboro: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Swainsboro workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,400 commuters (the 9% 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.
Driving is how Swainsboro gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Swainsboro is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #65 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Swainsboro near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,639 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). 15.2% of Swainsboro households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Swainsboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Swainsboro and other U.S. towns of 5,200 to 10,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Tyrone GA | 8,091 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 153 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,059 | Gouverneur NY | 6,414 | $44K | 21.4% | 7.9% | 32% | D− |
| 3,060 | Tallulah LA | 5,517 | $33K | 41.7% | 7.1% | 39% | D− |
| 3,061 | Swainsboro GA | 7,436 | $50K | 29.0% | 13.8% | 29% | D− |
| 3,062 | Jasper TX | 7,511 | $45K | 26.9% | 9.3% | 30% | D− |
| 3,063 | Crockett TX | 6,346 | $39K | 22.1% | 8.3% | 27% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,083 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Swainsboro, 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 Swainsboro: questions
What is the median household income in Swainsboro?
$49,750 (±$12,350) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Swainsboro?
29.0%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Swainsboro?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Swainsboro work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stillmore (5%, 12 mi), Vidalia (5%, 26 mi), Augusta (4%, 56 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Swainsboro walkable?
Swainsboro is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Swainsboro without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Swainsboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Swainsboro
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.