Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0At 8.8%, unemployment in Toccoa is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Toccoa are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Toccoa is behind 90% of U.S. towns. For 5% of workers, the job is at home; Georgia has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Toccoa
No single place dominates Toccoa’s commute
The biggest draw, Gainesville, gets only 4% of working residents, and 64% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Toccoa residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Toccoa trades workers with the towns around it
Toccoa has about as many jobs (4,513) as working residents (3,984), but they are mostly different people: 3,251 residents leave for work each day while 3,780 people come in. Only 16% of the jobs in Toccoa are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Toccoa
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Toccoa is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #226 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Toccoa’s grade up (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Toccoa could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Where Toccoa goes to work
Where Toccoa clocks in
4% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Toccoa
On a workday 3,251 residents head out to work, 733 work right here, and 3,780 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 (1.13 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.
The distance from Toccoa to work
About 34% 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.
The 4,513 jobs based in Toccoa
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Toccoa, 2013 → 2023: 3,779 → 4,513. 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 Toccoa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Toccoa: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Toccoa workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,676 commuters (the 5% 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.
In Toccoa, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Toccoa is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #78 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 3,861 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). 9.3% of Toccoa households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Toccoa’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,900, and where Toccoa sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Tyrone GA | 8,091 | $136K | 2.4% | 1.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 575 | Druid Hills GA | 8,169 | $130K | 9.3% | 3.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 579 | Whitemarsh Island GA | 6,886 | $102K | 3.9% | 3.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,694 | West Livingston TX | 8,199 | $62K | 18.8% | 9.1% | 2% | D |
| 2,695 | Eufaula AL | 12,437 | $47K | 20.4% | 5.6% | 32% | D |
| 2,696 | Toccoa GA | 9,539 | $48K | 23.9% | 8.8% | 18% | D |
| 2,697 | Lock Haven PA | 8,500 | $46K | 20.9% | 11.2% | 16% | D |
| 2,698 | Martin TN | 11,060 | $43K | 26.3% | 6.4% | 34% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,790 | 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 Toccoa, 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 Toccoa: questions
What is the median household income in Toccoa?
$48,438 (±$6,848) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Toccoa?
23.9%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Toccoa?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Toccoa work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gainesville (4%, 35 mi), Lavonia (3%, 16 mi), Atlanta (3%, 84 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Toccoa walkable?
Toccoa is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Toccoa 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 Toccoa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Toccoa
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.