First African Baptist Church and Parsonage · Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Waycross are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers (Georgia 16%). 32.7% of residents live below the poverty line; Georgia has 13.4%. Jobs and income earn Waycross D−; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Waycross apart on work
No single place dominates Waycross’ commute
The biggest draw, Douglas, gets only 3% of working residents, and 50% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Waycross residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Waycross draws workers from far and wide
The 10,168 jobs in Waycross are filled from a wide area. Waycross’ own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Waycross is where the jobs are
Waycross has 10,168 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Waycross are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Waycross workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Waycross’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Waycross
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Waycross is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #241 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Waycross’ grade up (ahead of 41% 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, Waycross could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who travels to work in Waycross, and from where
Where Waycross clocks in
3% of workers
3% 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.
Who leaves Waycross for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,382 residents head out to work, 1,694 work right here, and 8,474 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Waycross on a workday afternoon, 37% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Getting to work from Waycross takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waycross workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,884 commuters (the 7% 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.
What the 10,168 jobs in Waycross are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waycross, 2013 → 2023: 10,052 → 10,168. 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 Waycross’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Waycross
About 35% 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.
Driving is how Waycross gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waycross is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #114 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 4,164 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). 26.7% of Waycross households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Waycross’ commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000, and where Waycross sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 292 | Vinings GA | 14,390 | $95K | 6.2% | 2.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 359 | Flowery Branch GA | 13,110 | $104K | 6.1% | 2.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 397 | North Druid Hills GA | 17,997 | $103K | 11.1% | 1.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,207 | Blythe CA | 15,042 | $57K | 18.9% | 11.7% | 36% | D |
| 2,208 | Bay City TX | 17,488 | $54K | 26.0% | 13.3% | 23% | D− |
| 2,209 | Waycross GA | 13,936 | $38K | 32.7% | 11.6% | 33% | D− |
| 2,210 | Milledgeville GA | 16,835 | $42K | 40.5% | 6.9% | 30% | D− |
| 2,211 | Bainbridge GA | 14,606 | $45K | 24.1% | 9.8% | 34% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Waycross, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Waycross and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Deenwood (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Waycross’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 Waycross: questions
What is the median household income in Waycross?
$38,301 (±$6,302) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waycross?
32.7%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waycross?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waycross work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Douglas (3%, 36 mi), Blackshear (3%, 8 mi), Valdosta (3%, 60 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waycross walkable?
Waycross is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waycross without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 27% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waycross, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waycross
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.