Forsyth County is home to well-off residents who work both in Atlanta and within its own borders. It has the highest median income in the state, three times greater than Grady County, which has the lowest.
A high-capacity highway takes people into downtown Atlanta, but Forsyth is also home to a Scientific Games International manufacturing facility and Siemens Energy & Automation.
Professional services firms, including accountants, consultants and engineers, are popping up, as are medical records and transaction processing businesses, said Jeff Humphries, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.
The unemployment rate is 5.9%, compared to 7.8% for the state. Only 6.6% are in poverty, while the state rate is 19.2%.
"It's where executives want to live and it's where the workforce they hope to tap into resides," Humphries said.
Grady, on the other hand, is a small, rural county on the Florida border. Unemployment is at 7.3%, below the state average. The county has a diverse industrial base, with companies involved in boat building, food distribution, automotive parts and furniture making. Residents also work in Tallahassee, about 40 miles away.
The county also has agricultural businesses, growing cotton and peanuts, which employs many lower-paid workers. About one-third of residents are senior citizens, many of whom are on fixed incomes.
The poverty rate is 25.9%.
