About two in five of Thunderbolt’s working residents commute to Savannah
Only 3% stay in Thunderbolt for work; outside it, Savannah is the main destination (44%, 9 miles). Jobs and income earn Thunderbolt B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 5.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 6.3 in Savannah.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Thunderbolt apart
44% of Thunderbolt works in Savannah
385 working residents, 44%, have their main job in Savannah, 8.6 miles away across the town line. That’s 15 times as many as work in Thunderbolt itself. The commute map ↓
Thunderbolt has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Thunderbolt went from 668 in 2013 to 1,143 in 2023, +71%. The jobs ↓
Most Thunderbolt residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. 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; with 871 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Thunderbolt’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Thunderbolt is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #94 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Thunderbolt’s grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Thunderbolt could be anywhere from C to A−.
The towns that employ Thunderbolt’s residents
Where Thunderbolt clocks in
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 the 1,143 jobs in Thunderbolt are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thunderbolt, 2013 → 2023: 668 → 1,143. 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 Thunderbolt’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Thunderbolt, by distance
About 23% 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.
How many people are in Thunderbolt by day
On a workday 845 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 1,117 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Thunderbolt on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 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.
Time on the road from Thunderbolt: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thunderbolt workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,117 commuters (the 14% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Thunderbolt
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thunderbolt is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #35 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% 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 1,304 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 56% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.4% of Thunderbolt households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thunderbolt’s commuters take a bus or train.
Thunderbolt next to U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400: 1,999th of 4,868 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 198 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,997 | Edenville Township MI | 2,495 | $71K | 11.9% | 1.0% | <1% | B− |
| 1,998 | Kidder Township PA | 1,856 | $79K | 6.4% | 7.3% | 9% | B− |
| 1,999 | Thunderbolt GA | 2,534 | $75K | 17.6% | 3.5% | 3% | B− |
| 2,000 | Wilder KY | 3,108 | $71K | 18.6% | 3.5% | 1% | B− |
| 2,001 | Crosslake MN | 2,412 | $80K | 8.6% | 1.6% | 22% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | 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 Thunderbolt, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
45% of Thunderbolt works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Thunderbolt workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderbolt | – | B− | A− | 21 min | $75,234 |
| Whitemarsh Island | 1% | A | B | 23 min | $101,729 |
| Savannah | 44% | C | A | 21 min | $57,137 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Savannah. Darker towns draw more of Thunderbolt’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Thunderbolt: questions
What is the median household income in Thunderbolt?
$75,234 (±$19,586) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thunderbolt?
17.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thunderbolt?
21 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thunderbolt work?
3% work in town.
Is Thunderbolt walkable?
Thunderbolt is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 14.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thunderbolt without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. 56% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thunderbolt, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thunderbolt
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.