Photo: Marduk · Public domainCarthage’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
29.7% of residents are in poverty; Mississippi has 18.9%. Jobs and income earn Carthage D−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Working from home is the commute for 23% of workers, where Mississippi as a whole has 6%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Carthage at work: what stands out
Home offices are common in Carthage
23% of Carthage workers work from home, against 6% across Mississippi. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Carthage workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Carthage’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 14% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Carthage’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carthage is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #92 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Carthage’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carthage could be anywhere from D− to C.
About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Mississippi
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carthage workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,206 commuters (the 23% 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.
What the 2,550 jobs in Carthage are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carthage, 2013 → 2023: 2,445 → 2,550. 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 Carthage’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Carthage
On a workday 1,424 residents head out to work, 327 work right here, and 2,223 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Carthage on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.46 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
7% of working residents work in Jackson
Where Carthage clocks in
7% 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 far Carthage goes to work
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Carthage is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carthage is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #4 of 101 in Mississippi. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 1.8% across Mississippi, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,569 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). 21.1% of Carthage households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Carthage’s commuters take a bus or train.
Carthage next to U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 955 | Gluckstadt MS | 3,500 | $124K | 5.3% | 5.4% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,012 | New Hope MS | 3,952 | $80K | 2.9% | 1.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,021 | Gulf Park Estates MS | 6,264 | $66K | 5.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,724 | Brookside Township IL | 4,522 | $45K | 25.3% | 10.2% | 6% | D− |
| 3,725 | Whitehall NY | 3,999 | $54K | 20.7% | 9.2% | 16% | D− |
| 3,726 | Carthage MS | 4,864 | $42K | 29.7% | 7.8% | 19% | D− |
| 3,727 | Lee Acres NM | 4,272 | $45K | 30.0% | 15.2% | 6% | D− |
| 3,728 | Tri-City OR | 4,234 | $55K | 27.5% | 8.8% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,840 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Carthage, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
How Carthage compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Carthage workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carthage | – | D− | A− | 30 min | $42,254 |
| Redwater | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Redwater: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Carthage’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 Carthage: questions
What is the median household income in Carthage?
$42,254 (±$14,824) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carthage?
29.7%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carthage?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carthage work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (7%, 49 mi), Pearl River (6%, 17 mi), Forest (5%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carthage walkable?
Carthage is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carthage without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carthage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carthage
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.