Adam Ponthieu Store-Big Bend Post Office · Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes put Simmesport near the very bottom of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 37.6% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 18.9% for Louisiana as a whole. Simmesport grades D− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Simmesport and work: the main findings
Inside Simmesport’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Simmesport is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Simmesport’s grade.
Unemployment (13.6%) is left out: Simmesport’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Simmesport stays D−.
About 36 minutes each way for Simmesport’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Simmesport workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 528 commuters (the 1% 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.
How a workday changes Simmesport
On a workday 318 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 248 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 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.
12% of working residents work in Marksville
Where Simmesport clocks in
6% 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.
Jobs in Simmesport: what the 312 are
312 jobs are based in Simmesport.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Simmesport, 2013 → 2023: 290 → 312. 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 Simmesport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Simmesport commutes
About 26% 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.
Most trips from Simmesport start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Simmesport is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Louisiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 535 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). 20.6% of Simmesport households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Simmesport’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, and where Simmesport sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 353 | Paulina LA | 1,785 | $89K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 543 | Sorrento LA | 1,622 | $118K | 8.5% | 3.2% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 568 | Cade LA | 1,710 | $73K | 6.0% | 1.5% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,852 | Siesta Shores TX | 1,640 | $35K | 48.8% | 8.2% | 1% | D− |
| 5,853 | Vanceburg KY | 1,386 | $30K | 39.6% | 8.4% | 27% | D− |
| 5,854 | Simmesport LA | 1,400 | $30K | 37.6% | 13.6% | 17% | D− |
| 5,855 | Plains MT | 1,261 | $25K | 31.2% | 19.2% | 41% | D− |
| 5,856 | Belhaven NC | 1,414 | $33K | 40.3% | 12.5% | 14% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Simmesport, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
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 Simmesport: questions
What is the median household income in Simmesport?
$29,712 (±$13,322) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Simmesport?
37.6%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Simmesport?
36 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Simmesport work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marksville (12%, 18 mi), Alexandria (6%, 44 mi), Mansura (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Simmesport walkable?
Simmesport is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Simmesport without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Simmesport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Simmesport
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.