Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 2.5Valdosta’s household incomes are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Valdosta grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 26.1%, where Georgia as a whole has 13.4%. Home is the office for 6% of workers, next to 16% for Georgia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Valdosta
Commutes from Valdosta are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Valdosta is where the jobs are
Valdosta has 35,177 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Valdosta draws workers from far and wide
The 35,177 jobs in Valdosta are filled from a wide area. Valdosta’s own residents hold 27% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Valdosta workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Valdosta’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Why Valdosta gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Valdosta’s grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Valdosta could be anywhere from D to C−.
The trip to work from Valdosta: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Valdosta workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 22,559 commuters (the 6% 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 many people are in Valdosta by day
On a workday 8,596 residents head out to work, 9,463 work right here, and 25,714 people come in from elsewhere.
About 73,000 people are in Valdosta on a workday afternoon, 30% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Commuting in to Valdosta: where workers come from
Where Valdosta clocks in
1% of workers
1% of workers
1% 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 35,177 jobs in Valdosta are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Valdosta, 2014 → 2024: 33,940 → 35,177. 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 Valdosta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Valdosta
About 25% 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.
Most trips from Valdosta start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Valdosta is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #63 of 263 in Georgia. Both inputs place Valdosta 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 24,039 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). 9.5% of Valdosta households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Valdosta’s commuters take a bus or train.
Valdosta and other U.S. towns of 39,000 to 76,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Dunwoody GA | 51,792 | $122K | 6.1% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 19 | Milton GA | 41,266 | $171K | 4.3% | 2.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Woodstock GA | 39,895 | $103K | 6.6% | 2.7% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 768 | Utica NY | 62,978 | $52K | 27.5% | 8.2% | 36% | C− |
| 769 | Danville VA | 41,647 | $44K | 24.7% | 5.6% | 48% | C− |
| 770 | Valdosta GA | 56,186 | $46K | 26.1% | 5.7% | 52% | C− |
| 771 | Rocky Mount NC | 55,120 | $56K | 19.7% | 8.0% | 31% | C− |
| 772 | Wilson NC | 49,572 | $52K | 23.0% | 6.7% | 38% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 797 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Valdosta, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
How Valdosta compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Valdosta’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 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 Valdosta: questions
What is the median household income in Valdosta?
$45,925 (±$2,600) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Valdosta?
26.1%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Valdosta?
16 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Valdosta work?
52% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atlanta (1%, 212 mi), Thomasville (1%, 42 mi), Moultrie (1%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Valdosta walkable?
Valdosta is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Valdosta without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Valdosta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Valdosta
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.