Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes put Tallulah near the very bottom of U.S. towns
The two grades for Tallulah are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 41.7% of residents, against 18.9% across Louisiana.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Tallulah
Fewer than half of Tallulah workers earn over $40,000 a year
30% of Tallulah’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Tallulah are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Inside Tallulah’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tallulah is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #151 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Tallulah’s grade up (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tallulah could be anywhere from D− to D.
Most jobs in Tallulah are in services
2,035 jobs are based in Tallulah.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tallulah, 2013 → 2023: 2,012 → 2,035. 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 Tallulah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 16 minutes from Tallulah
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tallulah workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,719 commuters (the 2% 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.
Tallulah’s commute, mile by mile
About 32% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Tallulah
On a workday 1,299 residents head out to work, 773 work right here, and 1,262 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 (0.98 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.
7% of working residents work in Vicksburg
Where Tallulah clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
Tallulah is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tallulah is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #99 of 161 in Louisiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% of 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 1,751 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). 19.1% of Tallulah households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Tallulah’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tallulah next to U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,000 | Elmwood LA | 6,077 | $89K | 7.7% | 4.8% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,248 | Westlake LA | 4,763 | $68K | 12.1% | 0.0% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,268 | Red Chute LA | 6,526 | $86K | 7.5% | 4.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,379 | Barnwell SC | 4,619 | $52K | 23.9% | 13.8% | 17% | D− |
| 3,380 | Gouverneur NY | 6,414 | $44K | 21.4% | 7.9% | 32% | D− |
| 3,381 | Tallulah LA | 5,517 | $33K | 41.7% | 7.1% | 37% | D− |
| 3,382 | Butler MO | 4,317 | $42K | 24.7% | 10.1% | 30% | D− |
| 3,383 | Cheraw SC | 4,921 | $27K | 37.0% | 11.8% | 30% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Tallulah, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Tallulah and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Richmond (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Tallulah workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tallulah | – | D− | C+ | 16 min | $33,419 |
| Richmond | 5% | — | — | 13 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Richmond: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Tallulah’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 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 Tallulah: questions
What is the median household income in Tallulah?
$33,419 (±$3,174) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tallulah?
41.7%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tallulah?
16 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tallulah work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vicksburg (7%, 19 mi), Richmond (5%, 1 mi), Monroe (4%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tallulah walkable?
Tallulah is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tallulah without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tallulah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tallulah
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.