Photo: Markkaempfer; modified by Kbh3rd · CC BY 3.0Perryville’s household incomes are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns
About two in five work in Perryville itself; outside it, Cape Girardeau draws the most (6%, 34 miles). 19.0% of residents live below the poverty line; Missouri has 12.6%. Jobs and income earn Perryville D; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Perryville, in a few figures
Perryville is where the jobs are
Perryville has 6,229 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Perryville draws workers from far and wide
The 6,229 jobs in Perryville are filled from a wide area. Perryville’s own residents hold 28% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Perryville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Perryville is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #216 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds Perryville’s grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($51,897, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Perryville could be anywhere from D to C.
How many people are in Perryville by day
On a workday 2,301 residents head out to work, 1,718 work right here, and 4,511 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Perryville on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
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 Perryville’s workers come from
Where Perryville clocks in
6% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
In Perryville, 33% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
6,229 jobs are based in Perryville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Perryville, 2013 → 2023: 7,202 → 6,229. 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 Perryville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Perryville takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Perryville workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,546 commuters (the 7% 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.
Half of Perryville commutes less than 9 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Perryville, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Perryville is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #89 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% 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 3,793 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). 9.9% of Perryville households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Perryville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Perryville sits among U.S. towns of 6,000 to 11,600
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,716 | Canton NY | 6,894 | $62K | 19.8% | 6.5% | 28% | D |
| 2,717 | Pauls Valley OK | 6,157 | $50K | 24.4% | 5.2% | 36% | D |
| 2,718 | Perryville MO | 8,593 | $52K | 19.0% | 6.8% | 43% | D |
| 2,719 | Bowie TX | 6,113 | $57K | 16.7% | 6.2% | 19% | D |
| 2,720 | Vernal UT | 10,671 | $64K | 17.9% | 8.7% | 33% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,944 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Perryville, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
How Perryville compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Perryville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perryville | – | D | B+ | 20 min | $51,897 |
| Shakertowne | under 1% | — | — | 17 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Shakertowne: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Perryville’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 Perryville: questions
What is the median household income in Perryville?
$51,897 (±$6,005) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Perryville?
19.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Perryville?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Perryville work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cape Girardeau (6%, 34 mi), St. Louis (2%, 66 mi), Ste. Genevieve (2%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Perryville walkable?
Perryville is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Perryville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Perryville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Perryville
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.