Thomas E. Watson House · Photo: Michelle Zupan · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Thomson have lower incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Thomson C; getting around on foot earns it C. 28.8% of residents are in poverty, where Georgia as a whole has 13.4%. About one in seven stay in Thomson for work; outside it, Augusta is the main destination (15%, 25 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Thomson
Thomson trades workers with the towns around it
Thomson has about as many jobs (3,085) as working residents (2,710), but they are mostly different people: 2,280 residents leave for work each day while 2,655 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Thomson are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Thomson are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Thomson’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Thomson is Augusta, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (413) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Thomson’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Thomson is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #151 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment holds Thomson’s grade up (0.8%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Thomson could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 2,280 residents head out to work, 430 work right here, and 2,655 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 (1.14 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.
About 17 minutes each way, quicker than most of Georgia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thomson workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,421 commuters (the 10% 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 Thomson
About 29% 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.
Where Thomson’s working residents head each day
Where Thomson clocks in
3% 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 work there is in Thomson: 3,085 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thomson, 2013 → 2023: 2,866 → 3,085. 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 Thomson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Thomson, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thomson is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #210 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% 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 2,697 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). 8.8% of Thomson households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Thomson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Thomson places 2,437th of 3,253 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,100
| # | 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Tyrone GA | 8,091 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 146 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,435 | Yoakum TX | 5,900 | $47K | 17.7% | 0.0% | 27% | C |
| 2,436 | Tippecanoe Township IN | 6,630 | $72K | 9.4% | 9.1% | 9% | C |
| 2,437 | Thomson GA | 6,763 | $42K | 28.8% | 0.8% | 16% | C |
| 2,438 | Calumet Park IL | 6,772 | $54K | 14.1% | 15.4% | 2% | C |
| 2,439 | Hillsboro IL | 6,184 | $50K | 11.6% | 2.9% | 28% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,253 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Thomson, 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 Thomson: questions
What is the median household income in Thomson?
$42,180 (±$9,527) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thomson?
28.8%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thomson?
17 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thomson work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Augusta (15%, 25 mi), Martinez (3%, 23 mi), Atlanta (3%, 113 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thomson walkable?
Thomson is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thomson without a car?
1% 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 Thomson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thomson
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.