Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0Morgan City has higher unemployment (7.7%) than 87% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Morgan City itself; outside it, Franklin draws the most (7%, 20 miles). Jobs and income earn Morgan City C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Household incomes here are lower than in 79% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Morgan City and work: the main findings
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Morgan City
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Morgan City is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #112 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Morgan City’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Morgan City could be anywhere from D to C+.
The kinds of work in Morgan City
5,825 jobs are based in Morgan City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Morgan City, 2014 → 2024: 8,521 → 5,825. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Morgan City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Morgan City, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,305 residents head out to work, 1,254 work right here, and 4,571 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Morgan City on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Morgan City commutes to
Where Morgan City clocks in
7% of workers
4% 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.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Morgan City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Morgan City workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,642 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% 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.
Half of Morgan City commutes less than 21 miles
About 25% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Morgan City, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Morgan City is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #25 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Morgan City near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,812 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). 12.2% of Morgan City households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Morgan City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Morgan City and other U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 337 | Belle Chasse LA | 10,934 | $115K | 6.1% | 2.5% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 704 | Mandeville LA | 12,918 | $94K | 7.1% | 2.9% | 16% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 820 | Moss Bluff LA | 12,482 | $92K | 8.9% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,256 | Center Township MO | 9,550 | $50K | 19.1% | 4.4% | 37% | C− |
| 2,257 | Fitzgerald GA | 8,882 | $37K | 27.8% | 3.2% | 31% | C− |
| 2,258 | Morgan City LA | 10,757 | $56K | 17.4% | 7.7% | 28% | C− |
| 2,259 | Oil City PA | 9,301 | $51K | 16.6% | 5.1% | 20% | C− |
| 2,260 | Barton NY | 8,330 | $55K | 12.6% | 6.8% | 19% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 19% | 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 Morgan City, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Next door to Morgan City
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Morgan City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan City | – | C− | A− | 26 min | $56,474 |
| Siracusaville | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Siracusaville: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Morgan City’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 2024, 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 Morgan City: questions
What is the median household income in Morgan City?
$56,474 (±$7,248) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Morgan City?
17.4%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Morgan City?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Morgan City work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Franklin (7%, 20 mi), Lafayette (4%, 61 mi), Berwick (4%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Morgan City walkable?
Morgan City is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Morgan City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Morgan City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Morgan City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.