Rodgers Theatre Building · Photo: Michael Gäbler · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Poplar Bluff have lower incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
20.8% of residents are in poverty (Missouri 12.6%). Poplar Bluff grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 4% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Poplar Bluff, in brief
Poplar Bluff is where the jobs are
Poplar Bluff has 13,458 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 24,000 people are in town, 45% more than the 16,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Poplar Bluff draws workers from far and wide
The 13,458 jobs in Poplar Bluff are filled from a wide area. Poplar Bluff’s own residents hold 23% and the ten next-biggest home towns 7%; the other 70% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Poplar Bluff workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Poplar Bluff’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Poplar Bluff are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Poplar Bluff workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
How Poplar Bluff earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Poplar Bluff is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #200 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds Poplar Bluff’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,941, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Poplar Bluff could be anywhere from D to C.
How many people are in Poplar Bluff by day
On a workday 3,065 residents head out to work, 3,052 work right here, and 10,406 people come in from elsewhere.
About 24,000 people are in Poplar Bluff on a workday afternoon, 45% more than live here.
2.2 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 Poplar Bluff’s workforce comes from
Where Poplar Bluff clocks in
3% 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.
Jobs in Poplar Bluff: what the 13,458 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Poplar Bluff, 2013 → 2023: 13,491 → 13,458. 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 Poplar Bluff’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Poplar Bluff’s commute takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Poplar Bluff workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,040 commuters (the 4% 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.
The distance from Poplar Bluff to work
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.
The commute in Poplar Bluff is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Poplar Bluff is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #92 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% 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 6,271 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). 14.1% of Poplar Bluff households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Poplar Bluff’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 11,000 to 22,000, and where Poplar Bluff sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Dardenne Prairie MO | 15,032 | $153K | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Crestwood MO | 12,207 | $107K | 5.5% | 1.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,048 | Cahokia Heights IL | 16,874 | $34K | 34.1% | 10.0% | 8% | C− |
| 2,049 | El Campo TX | 12,142 | $67K | 21.0% | 6.4% | 26% | C− |
| 2,050 | Poplar Bluff MO | 16,295 | $42K | 20.8% | 4.9% | 50% | C− |
| 2,051 | Flowing Wells AZ | 16,559 | $40K | 24.0% | 8.9% | 4% | C− |
| 2,052 | Ukiah CA | 16,068 | $66K | 17.9% | 9.6% | 39% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,220 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Poplar Bluff, 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 Poplar Bluff: questions
What is the median household income in Poplar Bluff?
$41,941 (±$5,318) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Poplar Bluff?
20.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Poplar Bluff?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Poplar Bluff work?
50% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cape Girardeau (3%, 60 mi), Dexter (2%, 25 mi), Sikeston (2%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Poplar Bluff walkable?
Poplar Bluff is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Poplar Bluff without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Poplar Bluff, from the people who make the trip.
More of Poplar Bluff
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.