Photo: Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA · CC BY 2.0Unemployment in Bay St. Louis (7.8%) is higher than in 87% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 16% of workers, where Mississippi as a whole has 6%. For jobs and income Bay St. Louis is better than 24% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (B). About one in five work in Bay St. Louis itself; outside it, Gulfport draws the most (14%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Bay St. Louis
Bay St. Louis trades workers with the towns around it
Bay St. Louis has about as many jobs (3,928) as working residents (3,363), but they are mostly different people: 2,690 residents leave for work each day while 3,255 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Bay St. Louis are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Bay St. Louis is services
87% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 5% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Bay St. Louis’ grade explained
Job access by car holds Bay St. Louis’ grade up (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bay St. Louis could be anywhere from D to B−.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 2,690 residents head out to work, 673 work right here, and 3,255 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 (1.17 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.
In Bay St. Louis, services account for most jobs
3,928 jobs are based in Bay St. Louis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bay St. Louis, 2014 → 2024: 3,373 → 3,928. 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 Bay St. Louis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The places Bay St. Louis commutes to
Where Bay St. Louis clocks in
14% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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.
The trip to work from Bay St. Louis: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bay St. Louis workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,881 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Mississippi: 87% 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 commute from Bay St. Louis, by distance
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Bay St. Louis, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,597 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). 6.3% of Bay St. Louis households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bay St. Louis’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Bay St. Louis is 2,378th among 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,390 | Diamondhead MS | 9,441 | $87K | 7.0% | 4.2% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,459 | Flowood MS | 11,003 | $84K | 13.4% | 4.1% | 16% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,692 | Byram MS | 12,707 | $70K | 9.1% | 5.4% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,376 | Guthrie OK | 12,257 | $53K | 19.4% | 5.6% | 23% | C− |
| 2,377 | Collinsville VA | 7,139 | $52K | 16.3% | 4.7% | 10% | C− |
| 2,378 | Bay St. Louis MS | 10,634 | $67K | 14.5% | 7.8% | 20% | C− |
| 2,379 | Delaware Township PA | 7,834 | $86K | 11.1% | 7.5% | 5% | C− |
| 2,380 | Harrison AR | 13,802 | $44K | 14.9% | 3.7% | 46% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Bay St. Louis, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Bay St. Louis and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Waveland (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bay St. Louis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay St. Louis | – | C− | B | 27 min | $67,442 |
| Waveland | 5% | B− | C | 33 min | $68,693 |
| Diamondhead | under 2% | B | C− | 37 min | $87,407 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bay St. Louis’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 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 Bay St. Louis: questions
What is the median household income in Bay St. Louis?
$67,442 (±$9,646) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bay St. Louis?
14.5%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bay St. Louis?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bay St. Louis work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gulfport (14%, 18 mi), Waveland (5%, 3 mi), Biloxi (5%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Bay St. Louis walkable?
Bay St. Louis is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bay St. Louis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bay St. Louis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bay St. Louis
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.