Households in Sylvania have lower incomes than those in 92% of U.S. towns
3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. 20.9% of residents live below the poverty line, where Georgia as a whole has 13.4%. For jobs and income Sylvania is better than 5% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (C−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sylvania and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
37% 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 ↓
Sylvania’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Sylvania is Statesboro, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (71) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Sylvania 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 ↓
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 851 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Sylvania gets the Jobs & income grade it does
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sylvania’s grade.
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Sylvania’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Sylvania could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The distance from Sylvania to work
About 37% 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.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Sylvania
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sylvania workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 845 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.
How a workday changes Sylvania
On a workday 704 residents head out to work, 147 work right here, and 1,048 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Sylvania on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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.
8% of working residents work in Statesboro
Where Sylvania 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.
Jobs in Sylvania: what the 1,195 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sylvania, 2013 → 2023: 1,308 → 1,195. 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 Sylvania’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Sylvania, the car does most of the work
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 869 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). 9.1% of Sylvania households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sylvania’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sylvania next to U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 210 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,680 | Cumberland WI | 2,282 | $49K | 37.1% | 7.1% | 21% | D− |
| 4,681 | Colorado City AZ | 3,484 | $64K | 29.4% | 4.1% | 19% | D− |
| 4,682 | Sylvania GA | 2,704 | $46K | 20.9% | 1.8% | 17% | D− |
| 4,683 | Newaygo MI | 2,547 | $41K | 19.9% | 5.5% | 13% | D− |
| 4,684 | Mahanoy City PA | 3,539 | $38K | 35.9% | 13.3% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Sylvania, 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 Sylvania: questions
What is the median household income in Sylvania?
$46,033 (±$16,143) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sylvania?
20.9%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sylvania?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sylvania work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Statesboro (8%, 23 mi), Augusta (5%, 49 mi), Savannah (2%, 57 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sylvania walkable?
Sylvania is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sylvania without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sylvania, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sylvania
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.