Prater's Mill · Photo: Moonpyegirl · CC BY-SA 3.0Varnell has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
The two grades for Varnell are A− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Varnell has 487 jobs for 1,374 working residents. 3% of workers have no commute at all; Georgia has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Varnell, in brief
Few Varnell workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Varnell empties out on a workday
About 1,400 people are in Varnell on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than the 2,300 who live here: 1,400 head out to work and 480 come in. Day and night ↓
29% of Varnell works in Dalton
396 working residents, 29%, have their main job in Dalton, 9.2 miles away. That’s 29 times as many as work in Varnell itself. The commute map ↓
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.
Where Varnell’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Varnell is better than 77% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Varnell’s grade up (4.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Varnell could be anywhere from B to A.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Varnell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Varnell workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,423 commuters (the 3% 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.
Who commutes out of Varnell, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,363 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 476 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Varnell on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
29% of working residents work in Dalton
Where Varnell clocks in
10% 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.
Jobs in Varnell: what the 487 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Varnell, 2013 → 2023: 492 → 487. 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 Varnell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Varnell’s commute, mile by mile
About 20% 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.
Varnell is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Varnell is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Varnell 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 1,464 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). 8.2% of Varnell households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Varnell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Varnell is 888th of 5,328 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Berkeley Lake GA | 2,034 | $166K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 116 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 200 | Isle of Hope GA | 2,053 | $105K | 1.4% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 886 | Covington Township PA | 2,286 | $100K | 6.2% | 3.1% | 10% | A− |
| 887 | Elizabeth CO | 2,957 | $113K | 2.0% | 2.4% | 6% | A− |
| 888 | Varnell GA | 2,295 | $86K | 4.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A− |
| 889 | Weston MO | 1,855 | $89K | 5.7% | 2.2% | 9% | A− |
| 890 | Hollis Township IL | 1,789 | $87K | 5.5% | 2.7% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | 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 Varnell, 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 Varnell: questions
What is the median household income in Varnell?
$86,100 (±$10,325) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Varnell?
4.2%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Varnell?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Varnell work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dalton (29%, 9 mi), Chattanooga (10%, 20 mi), Calhoun (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Varnell walkable?
Varnell is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Varnell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Varnell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Varnell
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.