Photo: Ditch Fisher · CC BY-SA 3.0Brandon has higher household incomes than 71% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Brandon for work; outside it, Jackson is the main destination (29%, 13 miles). 8.5% of residents live below the poverty line, where Mississippi as a whole has 18.9%. Brandon grades B for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Brandon in brief
Brandon and Jackson trade workers both ways
Jackson is the top workplace for Brandon residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Brandon come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Brandon draws workers from far and wide
The 8,174 jobs in Brandon are filled from a wide area. Brandon’s own residents hold 14% and the ten next-biggest home towns 29%; the other 57% 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.
Brandon’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brandon is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #12 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Brandon’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brandon could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Where people from Brandon work
Where Brandon clocks in
29% 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 a workday changes Brandon
On a workday 9,866 residents head out to work, 1,135 work right here, and 7,039 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in Brandon on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.74 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The kinds of work in Brandon
8,174 jobs are based in Brandon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brandon, 2013 → 2023: 8,113 → 8,174. 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 Brandon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Brandon: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brandon workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,144 commuters (the 7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Brandon
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.
Brandon is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brandon is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns, #73 of 101 in Mississippi. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 1.8% across Mississippi.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,004 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). 0.9% of Brandon households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brandon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brandon places 854th of 1,576 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 18,000 to 35,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 159 | Madison MS | 28,575 | $119K | 4.8% | 2.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 679 | Hernando MS | 18,824 | $77K | 8.8% | 2.5% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 793 | Ocean Springs MS | 18,993 | $80K | 5.5% | 4.2% | 23% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 852 | Port Chester NY | 32,303 | $92K | 12.9% | 5.4% | 10% | B |
| 853 | Franklin IN | 26,743 | $82K | 11.0% | 3.9% | 21% | B |
| 854 | Brandon MS | 26,122 | $93K | 8.5% | 5.2% | 10% | B |
| 855 | Rahway NJ | 31,010 | $91K | 9.5% | 7.3% | 7% | B |
| 856 | Kernersville NC | 29,128 | $72K | 12.6% | 2.7% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,576 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Brandon, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Brandon and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Pearl (7%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Brandon’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 Brandon: questions
What is the median household income in Brandon?
$92,783 (±$5,388) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brandon?
8.5%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brandon?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brandon work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (29%, 13 mi), Flowood (12%, 6 mi), Ridgeland (8%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brandon walkable?
Brandon is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brandon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brandon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brandon
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.