Photo: Blastoids · CC BY-SA 3.0Waynesboro’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 6% of workers, where Georgia as a whole has 16%. 26.0% of residents are in poverty (Georgia 13.4%). The two grades for Waynesboro are D for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Waynesboro, in a few figures
Waynesboro is where the jobs are
Waynesboro has 3,654 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Waynesboro and Augusta trade workers both ways
Augusta is the top workplace for Waynesboro residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Waynesboro come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Waynesboro’s workers comes from Augusta
492 of the people who work in Waynesboro live in Augusta, 19 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Waynesboro
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Waynesboro is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #213 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Waynesboro’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,620, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waynesboro could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Waynesboro fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,496 residents head out to work, 548 work right here, and 3,106 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Waynesboro on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.8 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.
Who travels to work in Waynesboro, and from where
Where Waynesboro 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.
What work there is in Waynesboro: 3,654 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waynesboro, 2014 → 2024: 3,352 → 3,654. 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 Waynesboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Waynesboro: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waynesboro workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,420 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 far Waynesboro goes to work
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.
Driving is how Waynesboro gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waynesboro is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns, #251 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,566 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). 16.0% of Waynesboro households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Waynesboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Waynesboro next to U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 151 | Senoia GA | 6,276 | $125K | 1.1% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 386 | Temple GA | 6,564 | $91K | 2.6% | 1.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,160 | Brownsville LA | 4,357 | $36K | 29.4% | 11.6% | 3% | D |
| 3,161 | Gridley CA | 7,258 | $58K | 17.9% | 11.5% | 18% | D |
| 3,162 | Waynesboro GA | 5,511 | $42K | 26.0% | 6.1% | 27% | D |
| 3,163 | Dowagiac MI | 5,725 | $48K | 21.4% | 8.9% | 13% | D |
| 3,164 | New Lexington OH | 4,465 | $44K | 27.4% | 5.4% | 19% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | 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 Waynesboro, 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 Waynesboro: questions
What is the median household income in Waynesboro?
$41,620 (±$9,969) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waynesboro?
26.0%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waynesboro?
25 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waynesboro work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Augusta (21%, 19 mi), Martinez (2%, 30 mi), Statesboro (2%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Waynesboro walkable?
Waynesboro is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waynesboro without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Waynesboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waynesboro
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.