Photo: City of Winder · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Winder (5.5%) is higher than in 68% of U.S. towns
Winder grades C+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. For 7% of workers, the job is at home, next to 16% for Georgia as a whole. Only 6% work in Winder; the top destination outside it is Athens (6%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Winder: the figures worth knowing
Winder draws workers from far and wide
The 6,300 jobs in Winder are filled from a wide area. Winder’s own residents hold 9% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 78% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
No single place dominates Winder’s commute
The biggest draw, Athens, gets only 6% of working residents, and 65% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Winder residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Winder has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Winder went from 4,485 in 2013 to 6,300 in 2023, +40%. The jobs ↓
Winder workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 28 across Georgia. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Winder’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Winder is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #131 of 263 in Georgia. Job access by car holds Winder’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winder could be anywhere from C− to B.
Where people from Winder work
Where Winder clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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 Winder’s employers do
6,300 jobs are based in Winder.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winder, 2013 → 2023: 4,485 → 6,300. 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 Winder’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Winder’s commute takes about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winder workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,539 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.
Who works in Winder, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 8,731 residents head out to work, 594 work right here, and 5,706 people come in from elsewhere.
About 18,000 people are in Winder on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.68 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Miles to work from Winder
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.
Few in Winder walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Winder is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns, #203 of 263 in Georgia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 9,190 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). 6.6% of Winder households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Winder’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Winder ranks: 1,340th of 1,787 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Holly Springs GA | 20,261 | $114K | 3.9% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Decatur GA | 25,276 | $139K | 6.2% | 4.3% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 344 | North Druid Hills GA | 17,997 | $103K | 11.1% | 1.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,338 | Frenchtown Township MI | 21,753 | $66K | 15.1% | 5.9% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,339 | Silver Springs Shores FL | 28,537 | $64K | 14.2% | 3.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,340 | Winder GA | 21,252 | $64K | 13.2% | 5.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,341 | Pottstown PA | 23,322 | $61K | 17.5% | 5.1% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,342 | Webster MA | 17,835 | $73K | 12.7% | 7.7% | 12% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | 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 Winder, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
Work in the towns next to Winder
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Winder’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 Winder: questions
What is the median household income in Winder?
$63,779 (±$5,468) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winder?
13.2%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winder?
33 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winder work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Athens (6%, 21 mi), Atlanta (5%, 43 mi), Lawrenceville (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winder walkable?
Winder is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winder without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Winder, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winder
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.