Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Portageville trail those of 85% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Portageville D; getting around on foot earns it C+. 17.5% of residents are in poverty (Missouri 12.6%). About one in four work in Portageville; the top destination outside it is Sikeston (7%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Portageville at work: what stands out
Portageville trades workers with the towns around it
Portageville has about as many jobs (1,021) as working residents (1,190), but they are mostly different people: 871 residents leave for work each day while 702 people come in. Only 31% of the jobs in Portageville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Portageville makes and builds things
46% of the jobs based in Portageville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Portageville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Portageville are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Portageville earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Portageville is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #226 of 247 in Missouri. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Portageville’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Portageville could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The daily flow of workers through Portageville
On a workday 871 residents head out to work, 319 work right here, and 702 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 (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
46% of the jobs in Portageville make or build things
1,021 jobs are based in Portageville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Portageville, 2014 → 2024: 1,104 → 1,021. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portageville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Portageville: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Portageville workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,189 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.
Where people from Portageville work
Where Portageville 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.
How many miles Portageville commutes
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Portageville gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Portageville is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #190 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 1,280 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). 5.1% of Portageville households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Portageville’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,212th of 4,797: where Portageville ranks among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Clarkson Valley MO | 2,540 | $247K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,210 | Nile Township OH | 2,265 | $57K | 16.1% | 6.4% | 3% | D |
| 4,211 | Breckenridge MN | 3,323 | $59K | 22.2% | 6.8% | 22% | D |
| 4,212 | Portageville MO | 2,702 | $52K | 17.5% | 6.0% | 27% | D |
| 4,213 | Timmonsville SC | 2,117 | $35K | 31.2% | 8.4% | 2% | D |
| 4,214 | Albion ME | 2,092 | $62K | 18.4% | 2.8% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 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 Portageville, 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 2024, 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 Portageville: questions
What is the median household income in Portageville?
$52,279 (±$14,947) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Portageville?
17.5%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Portageville?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Portageville work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sikeston (7%, 32 mi), New Madrid (5%, 14 mi), Caruthersville (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Portageville walkable?
Portageville is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Portageville 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 Portageville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Portageville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.