Meridian

Southeast Georgia / Statesboro (Coastal Plain)

Future Path

Pick a future path. Every number on this page updates with the impacts and the ranked actions for that path.

Disruption Profile

Baseline + Probable

High — Active disruption underway in key sectors

Moderate — Median household income $50K (-30.3% vs state median) -- significantly below state average, limiting consumer spending and tax base.

Moderate — Building pressure in key sectors

Moderate — AI Exposure Index: 38/100 -- lower vulnerability to AI-driven workforce disruption.

Moderate — Moderate exposure across select industries

Low — Moderate exposure across select industries

Low — Limited disruption signal

Minimal — Limited disruption signal

Bulloch County vs Georgia Average

Bulloch County exceeds Georgia average on 4/9 dimensions. Highest divergence: Social Trust (-21)

Click a dimension label to explore

Bulloch Georgia US Avg

Projected impact · 2026

Stakes for Bulloch County

Probable cone · 1.00x

With 34K jobs in Bulloch County and AI exposure at 38/100, here is what the model projects through 2031 under the probable cone (default 5-year horizon — scrub the timeline to extend).

Model: at-risk = workforce × (AI exposure ÷ 100) × ((year − 2020) ÷ 10, capped 0-1) × cone multiplier. Each STEEPE-point improvement preserves ~1% of at-risk jobs. The same formula runs backwards (retrodiction) and forwards (projection), so scrubbing pre-2026 shows what the model says was already exposed by that year.

See per-dimension breakdown

How 8 actions distribute across 4 dimensions, plus near-term vs medium-term lists.

If Bulloch County implements all 8 recommended actions, the model projects these dimensional improvements.

Education Value

62+14 pts

Pre-emptive Reskilling Pipeline: Higher-education back-office /Sector-Aligned K-12 + Community College Pipeline /Registered Apprenticeship Expansion: Education & Health Services

Social Trust

53+9 pts

Targeted Poverty Reduction in Highest-Need Areas /Pre-Positioned Displaced Worker Rapid Response

Economic Disruption

52+8 pts

Reduce Education & Health Services Concentration Risk

AI > AGI > ASI

40+7 pts

Anchor Employer AI Co-Investment Compact /Universal Broadband for AI Economy Participation

Near-term (1-3 yr)+36 pts

7 actions within local control

- Reduce Education & Health Services Concentration Risk
- Targeted Poverty Reduction in Highest-Need Areas
- Pre-emptive Reskilling Pipeline: Higher-education back-office
- Sector-Aligned K-12 + Community College Pipeline
- Anchor Employer AI Co-Investment Compact
- Registered Apprenticeship Expansion: Education & Health Services
- Pre-Positioned Displaced Worker Rapid Response

Medium-term (3-7 yr)+2 pts

1 action requiring partnerships or advocacy

- Universal Broadband for AI Economy Participation

Action Plan

Probable path

Top recommendations for Bulloch County, ranked by estimated impact. 8 total · +38 pts combined.

Who Can Act

Of 8 recommended actions for Bulloch County, 7 are within direct control. Tap a sphere to see the actions and what each one does.

Acting on the 7 local levers alone (+36 STEEPE pts) is the fastest path to shifting the probable→preferred future cone for this county.

Top Employers — Bulloch County

The 8 largest employers shaping the local labor market. Tap any row for the public-data profile and AI-exposure assessment.

Economic Development Authority

Bulloch County / City of Statesboro economic development (with Georgia Southern University as workforce partner)

Southeast Georgia / Statesboro Regional Economic Development Strategy

Website

Target Sectors

Advanced Manufacturing (Hyundai supplier ring, small engines, architectural glass)Logistics & Distribution (Walmart DC, I-16 / Savannah port corridor)Higher Education & Research (Georgia Southern University)Healthcare (East Georgia Regional Medical Center catchment)Agriculture & Agribusiness (cotton, peanuts, vegetables)

Active Programs

+Georgia Southern University workforce-training and applied-research partnerships
+Ogeechee Technical College workforce-training programs (Statesboro)
+Georgia Department of Economic Development site-readiness and recruitment support
+Bulloch County / City of Statesboro business retention and expansion outreach

Recent Wins

Hyundai Metaplant America groundbreaking (Bryan County) draws Bulloch into the supplier-ring labor shed

2022

Georgia Southern University continued enrollment and capital investment in Statesboro campus

2024

Supporting detail

Open any section to dig into the underlying data.

Layoff history (WARN)

Federal layoff filings on the timeline

WARN Act Notices (2020-2026)

Notices

Workers

Layoff Rate

of total employment

2025

Workers Affected by Year

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

Recent Notices

Source: Georgia DOL WARN. Federal WARN Act: 60-day notice for mass layoffs (50+ workers) at employers with 100+ employees.

Disruption scenarios

Exponential impact paths driven by the timeline

Exponential Impact Scenarios

Cross-signal alerts

When multiple risk signals converge on this county

Convergence Alerts

highClimate-Economic Nexusstrength 53%

Ecological 63/55Economic 63/50

Ecological stress amplifies economic disruption through insurance costs, infrastructure damage, supply chain disruptions, and forced migration patterns.

Precedent: Hurricane Katrina (2005), Texas winter storm (2021): climate events created multi-year economic disruption in affected regions.

Bulloch County: 2 dimensions converging above thresholds simultaneously.

Full economic profile

Demographics, employment, sectors, incentives

EVI: transitionalBASELINENon-Metro (RUCC 4)

Housing & Infrastructure

Median Home Value

$195K

Homeownership

50%

Median Rent

$970

Broadband Access

84.0%

Avg Commute

21.5 min

Labor Force Part.

60.0%

Statesboro proper is a heavy student-rental market; outlying Bulloch County is owner-occupied single-family dominant. Demand has tightened from Savannah-area overflow, Hyundai supplier-ring buildout, and steady GSU enrollment. Affordability still solid relative to coastal-GA metros but trending up.

Employment by Sector

Education & Health Services28%

Trade, Transportation & Utilities19.5%

Leisure & Hospitality13%

Manufacturing10.5%

Agriculture, Forestry & Mining4.5%

Population & Talent

Population

81K

Change Since 2020

+1.5%

Median Age

27.5

Net in-migration driven by Georgia Southern enrollment, Hyundai supplier-ring buildout (workers commuting south to Bryan County), and Savannah-area overflow housing demand. Younger profile from the university; Hispanic ag-worker community contributes meaningful in-migration around row-crop cycles.

Southeast Georgia hub county anchored on a three-leg stool: Georgia Southern University (Statesboro main campus, ~26K students), a row-crop agricultural economy (cotton, peanuts, vegetables), and a fast-strengthening logistics and manufacturing ring tied to the Hyundai Metaplant America in Bryan County (~30 miles south) and the Port of Savannah. East Georgia Regional Medical Center anchors regional healthcare. Real estate and employment growth tracks the broader coastal-GA / Savannah-port buildout. Exposure: higher-ed back-office, distribution-center operations, and ag field labor are all squarely in AI's productivity path.

Sources

Census QuickFacts: Bulloch County, GA BLS: Georgia Employment Summary Bulloch County Government City of Statesboro Georgia Southern University East Georgia Regional Medical Center Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America

Grant matches

Federal funding aligned to county levers

Target industries

Sectors prioritized by the county strategy

Sectors aligned with the county’s diversification strategy and AI impact assessment.

1.Higher Education (Georgia Southern University, Statesboro)

AI mixed

Georgia Southern's Statesboro campus is the dominant economic anchor: roughly 26,000 students and several thousand faculty and staff drive housing demand, retail, food service, and a steady annual cycle of enrollment-linked spending. Online enrollment growth and AI-enabled instruction reshape the operating model and could pressure back-office headcount even as the academic core stabilizes.

2.Hyundai Metaplant Supplier Ecosystem (coastal-GA EV cluster)

AI tailwind

Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Bryan County (~30 miles south) is drawing a multi-tier supplier ring across coastal Georgia. Bulloch is firmly inside the commuter and tier-2/tier-3 supplier draw zone. The EV-content shift toward electronics, battery packs, and software favors firms that can co-locate near the metaplant while pressuring legacy powertrain content elsewhere in the state.

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Bulloch County