Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Atlanta have lower incomes than those in 74% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Atlanta D; getting around on foot earns it B−. Poverty touches 21.1% of residents; Texas has 13.8%. About one in four stay in Atlanta for work; outside it, Texarkana is the main destination (15%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Atlanta, in a few figures
Atlanta’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Atlanta is Texarkana, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (290) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 Atlanta
Job access by car holds Atlanta’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Atlanta could be anywhere from D− to B.
Half of Atlanta commutes less than 24 miles
About 30% 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.
Who works in Atlanta, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,387 residents head out to work, 530 work right here, and 2,144 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,200 people are in Atlanta on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Atlanta commutes to
Where Atlanta clocks in
15% 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.
Inside Atlanta’s 2,674 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Atlanta, 2013 → 2023: 2,786 → 2,674. 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 Atlanta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes to work from Atlanta
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Atlanta workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,974 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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.
Driving is how Atlanta gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Atlanta is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns, #249 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.0% across Texas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,238 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). 8.0% of Atlanta households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Atlanta’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Atlanta ranks: 3,179th of 3,612 U.S. towns of 3,800 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Haslet TX | 5,267 | $169K | 2.1% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Hickory Creek TX | 6,875 | $149K | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Garden Ridge TX | 4,371 | $177K | 0.4% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,177 | Sauk Centre MN | 4,663 | $63K | 19.5% | 6.5% | 34% | D |
| 3,178 | Clairton PA | 5,876 | $37K | 33.0% | 8.2% | 5% | D |
| 3,179 | Atlanta TX | 5,478 | $60K | 21.1% | 5.9% | 28% | D |
| 3,180 | Mills WY | 4,634 | $51K | 15.0% | 8.1% | 8% | D |
| 3,181 | Castor Township MO | 4,651 | $57K | 14.2% | 6.5% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,612 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Atlanta, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
The towns around Atlanta
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Atlanta workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | – | D | B− | 29 min | $60,259 |
| Queen City | under 2% | D | D | 16 min | $43,457 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Atlanta’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 Atlanta: questions
What is the median household income in Atlanta?
$60,259 (±$22,035) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Atlanta?
21.1%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Atlanta?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Atlanta work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Texarkana (15%, 24 mi), Texarkana (4%, 25 mi), Nash (2%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Atlanta walkable?
Atlanta is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Atlanta 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 Atlanta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Atlanta
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.