Downing House · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Memphis’ household incomes are lower than in 81% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Memphis are D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Poverty touches 12.2% of residents, where Missouri as a whole has 12.6%. About one in three work in Memphis; the top destination outside it is Kirksville (5%, 28 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Memphis in brief
The four measures behind Memphis’ grade
On income, poverty and job access, Memphis is better than 11% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Memphis’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.6%) is left out: Memphis’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Memphis could be anywhere from D− to C.
About 16 minutes to work from Memphis
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Memphis workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 792 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 460 residents head out to work, 276 work right here, and 489 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 (1.04 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.
Where the trip to work from Memphis ends
Where Memphis clocks in
5% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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 Memphis: what the 765 are
765 jobs are based in Memphis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Memphis, 2013 → 2023: 760 → 765. 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 Memphis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Memphis’ commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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.
For most of Memphis, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Memphis is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 879 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). 4.6% of Memphis households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Memphis’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Memphis is 5,022nd of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 57 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,020 | Marked Tree AR | 2,208 | $46K | 27.3% | 7.2% | 17% | D |
| 5,021 | Inglis FL | 1,640 | $57K | 14.7% | 3.8% | 11% | D |
| 5,022 | Memphis MO | 1,762 | $55K | 12.2% | 0.6% | 38% | D |
| 5,023 | Haskell OK | 1,740 | $34K | 20.7% | 6.5% | 7% | D |
| 5,024 | Leyden NY | 1,585 | $59K | 13.9% | 13.3% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Memphis, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
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 Memphis: questions
What is the median household income in Memphis?
$55,125 (±$9,868) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Memphis?
12.2%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Memphis?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Memphis work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kirksville (5%, 28 mi), Centerville (3%, 41 mi), Keosauqua (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Memphis walkable?
Memphis is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Memphis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Memphis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Memphis
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.