City · Thomas County, Georgia

Thomasville, Georgia

Thomasville is a city in Thomas County, Georgia, part of the Thomasville, GA metro area. It has 18,666 residents. Thomasville, Georgia has a quality-of-life score of 15 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,318 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Georgia it ranks #210 of 386 cities and towns. It ranks best on average commute time (low), comfortable days (high) and child care cost burden (low). It ranks worst on primary care shortage (high), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (high) and income inequality (Gini index) (high).

15Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,318 of 15,651 cities and towns
Georgia: #210 of 386 in GA
Population: 18,666 (2020-2024)
Land area: 15 mi²
Density: 1,243.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 1376224

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety18#12,801/15,637
Economy22#12,203/15,631
Housing32#10,164/14,977
Health29#11,099/15,609
Healthcare26#11,535/15,650
Environment24#11,676/15,453
Education31#10,842/15,649
Infrastructure30#10,966/15,650
Community19#12,659/15,651
Leisure & amenities63#5,714/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Thomasville, Georgia ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Thomas County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Average commute time · low16.3 min
94/100Georgia 28.3 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Comfortable days · high33.7%
92/100Georgia 31.5%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationThomas County value
Child care cost burden · low21.1%
91/100Georgia 23.0%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteThomas County value
Social associations · high14.7 /10k
90/100Georgia 8.8 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteThomas County value
Job growth · high1.8%
87/100Georgia 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataThomas County value
Depression · low19.3%
86/100Georgia 19.3%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Primary care shortage · high20.0
1/100Georgia 8.2United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationThomas County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high9.8 µg/m³
3/100Georgia 9.1 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyThomas County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.507
5/100Georgia 0.477United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Distance to an Amtrak station · high132 mi
6/100Georgia 38 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauThomas County value
Distance to an airport · high116 mi
6/100Georgia 42 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauThomas County value
Time spent in the emergency room · high233 min
7/100Georgia 168 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesThomas County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateImproving
34.5% (2015-2019) → 22.2% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
62.5% (2015-2019) → 50.6% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$32,378 (2015-2019) → $49,673 (2020-2024)
+53%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
78.3% (2015-2019) → 88.8% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
39.2% (2015-2019) → 30.4% (2020-2024)
−8.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Poverty rateImproving
25.0% (2015-2019) → 17.1% (2020-2024)
−7.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Thomasville, Georgia improved on 7 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 7 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved7

Rent / income−8.8 points39.2% → 30.4%
Poverty−7.8 points25.0% → 17.1%
Child poverty−12 points34.5% → 22.2%
Household income+53%$32,378 → $49,673
Uninsured−5.2 points19.5% → 14.3%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Thomasville, Georgia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	18.4 min2015-2019	16.3 min2020-2024	−2.1 min	Within the margin of error	72%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.5%2015-2019	24.9%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Broadband subscriptions	78.3%2015-2019	88.8%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	62%
Child poverty rate	34.5%2015-2019	22.2%2020-2024	−12 points	Improved	86%
Effective property tax rate	1.00%2015-2019	0.92%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	30%
High school diploma or higher	85.2%2015-2019	90.7%2020-2024	+5.5 points	Within the margin of error	84%
Home price to income ratio	5.0×2015-2019	4.1×2020-2024	−0.9×	Within the margin of error	97%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5112015-2019	0.5072020-2024	−0.004	Within the margin of error	54%
Median household income	$32,3782015-2019	$49,6732020-2024	+53%	Improved	87%
Poverty rate	25.0%2015-2019	17.1%2020-2024	−7.8 points	Improved	89%
Rent as share of income	39.2%2015-2019	30.4%2020-2024	−8.8 points	Improved	92%
Rent-burdened households	62.5%2015-2019	50.6%2020-2024	−12 points	Improved	85%
Unemployment rate	6.3%2015-2019	5.9%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	19.5%2015-2019	14.3%2020-2024	−5.2 points	Improved	87%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Thomasville, Georgia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Thomasville, Georgia in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Thomasville, Georgia itself moved +10.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

18,666 residents (±33)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

7,929 households (±359)

Thomasville, Georgia
Georgia share

Under $25k23%1,860
$25k–50k27%2,148
$50k–75k13%1,048

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

7,929 households (±359)

Thomasville, Georgia
Georgia share

Own50%3,988
Rent50%3,941

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

8,370 workers (±601)

Thomasville, Georgia
Georgia share

Drive alone76%6,345
Carpool16%1,337
Public transit0.6%†51

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Thomasville, GA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Thomas County, the county holding most of Thomasville's residents.

Thomas County has 1,220 employer establishments, 266 for every 10,000 residents (1.07× the US rate of 248; 1.13× Georgia's), with 19,189 paid employees at an average annual pay of $54,205. The Census Bureau also counts 4,122 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,220; 4,122 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 266; US 248 · Georgia 236
Paid employees: 19,189
Average annual pay: $54,205; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Thomas County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	114	24.9	1.19×About typical	1,162	$74,557	286
Restaurants and other eating places	89	19.4	1.06×About typical	1,515	$21,034	13
Religious organizations	60	13.1	2.36×More than typical	355	$20,008	—
Specialty trade contractors	60	13.1	0.85×About typical	481	$70,985	221
Lessors of real estate	50	10.9	0.89×About typical	132	$34,394	398
Limited-service restaurants	47	10.3	1.28×More than typical	795	$18,497	4
Offices of physicians	42	9.2	1.42×More than typical	527	$112,772	51
Gasoline stations	39	8.5	2.63×More than typical	252	$26,409	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	37	8.1	1.20×About typical	363	$28,521	421
Insurance agencies and brokerages	35	7.6	1.74×More than typical	356	$58,211	97
Offices of other health practitioners	33	7.2	1.19×About typical	153	$57,033	81
Full-service restaurants	31	6.8	0.88×About typical	603	$24,750	4

Rank places for an industry Open Thomas County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 45,790 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $63.7K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Thomasville, Georgia: $3.42 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $63.7K; −55% vs FY2025
Per resident: $3.42; US $1,994
Sole-source: 29%; US 30%
Single offer: 2.1%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Army$30.5K48%
Federal Emergency Management Agency$23.1K36%
Defense Logistics Agency$7,20211%
Public Buildings Service$3,5245.5%

Top recipients

BAYLY, INC$30.5K48%
SPATHE SYSTEMS LLC$20.7K32%
FLOWERS BAKING CO OF THOMASVILLE LLC$7,20211%
SOUTH DADE AIR CONDITIONING & REFRIGERATION INC$4,6007.2%
FLAKE TOWERS, LLC$1,9323.0%

Spending by fiscal year

35KFY2017
101.2KFY2018
64.5KFY2019
74KFY2020
412.6KFY2021
92.5KFY2022
76.6KFY2023
326.9KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing · 3159$28.6K45%
Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing · 3341$20.7K32%
Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing · 3118$7,20211%
Facilities support services · 5612$4,6007.2%
Utility system construction · 2371$1,9323.0%
Other miscellaneous manufacturing · 3399$1,9103.0%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Thomasville, Georgia, so they do not add up across cities.

Thomasville, Georgia's figures are part of those of Thomas County, GA ($847.6K in FY2026), never added to them: 7.5% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Thomasville is mostly in Thomas County.

See federal money in Thomas County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Thomasville, Georgia is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Sanford D. Bishop, Jr.D-GA-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 93%Missed 1.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Thomas County31100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Thomasville, GA18

Other cities and towns in Thomas County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1376224

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends