Photo: BakedintheHole · CC BY 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Tybee Island (1.2%) than in 93% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are higher than in 88% of U.S. towns. Tybee Island grades A for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in four stay in Tybee Island for work; outside it, Savannah is the main destination (24%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Tybee Island, in brief
Tybee Island is where the jobs are
Tybee Island has 1,725 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Tybee Island and Savannah trade workers both ways
Savannah is the top workplace for Tybee Island residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Tybee Island come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Tybee Island pay little
37% of the jobs based in Tybee Island pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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; with 874 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Tybee Island earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tybee Island is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #23 of 263 in Georgia. Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tybee Island could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Who works in Tybee Island, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 672 residents head out to work, 202 work right here, and 1,523 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Tybee Island on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
2.0 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.
Where Tybee Island’s workforce comes from
Where Tybee Island clocks in
2% 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.
In Tybee Island, services account for most jobs
1,725 jobs are based in Tybee Island.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tybee Island, 2014 → 2024: 1,210 → 1,725. 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 Tybee Island’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes to work from Tybee Island
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tybee Island workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,125 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.
Where in the region Tybee Island works
About 31% 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.
Tybee Island is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tybee Island is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #20 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Tybee Island 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 1,306 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.7% of Tybee Island households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tybee Island’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tybee Island next to U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300: 549th of 4,698 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 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 264 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 340 | Chattahoochee Hills GA | 3,524 | $112K | 1.1% | 3.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 547 | London Britain Township PA | 3,180 | $195K | 2.3% | 3.3% | 2% | A |
| 548 | Bayshore NC | 2,949 | $95K | 3.8% | 2.0% | 1% | A |
| 549 | Tybee Island GA | 3,156 | $120K | 7.7% | 1.2% | 23% | A |
| 550 | West Branch IA | 2,956 | $92K | 6.4% | 0.8% | 10% | A |
| 551 | Oak Ridge North TX | 2,991 | $109K | 5.9% | 4.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Tybee Island, 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 Tybee Island: questions
What is the median household income in Tybee Island?
$120,479 (±$24,889) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tybee Island?
7.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tybee Island?
26 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tybee Island work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Savannah (24%, 20 mi), Atlanta (2%, 240 mi), Pooler (2%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Tybee Island walkable?
Tybee Island is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tybee Island without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tybee Island, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tybee Island
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.