Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY 4.0Cleveland has lower household incomes than 93% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Cleveland is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B). 29.3% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 18.9% for Mississippi as a whole. About two in five stay in Cleveland for work; outside it, Greenville is the main destination (3%, 31 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cleveland: the figures worth knowing
Commutes from Cleveland are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Mississippi worker. Time on the road ↓
Cleveland is where the jobs are
Cleveland has 6,526 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Cleveland draws workers from far and wide
The 6,526 jobs in Cleveland are filled from a wide area. Cleveland’s own residents hold 28% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; 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.
Jobs & income in Cleveland: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Cleveland’s grade up (ahead of 35% 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, Cleveland could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Each way, about 17 minutes from Cleveland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cleveland workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,681 commuters (the 1% 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.
Who leaves Cleveland for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,297 residents head out to work, 1,813 work right here, and 4,713 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Cleveland on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Commuting in to Cleveland: where workers come from
Where Cleveland clocks in
3% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
What work there is in Cleveland: 6,526 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cleveland, 2013 → 2023: 7,858 → 6,526. 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 Cleveland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Cleveland
About 22% 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.
In Cleveland, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 3,707 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). 8.0% of Cleveland households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cleveland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cleveland and other 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% | 15% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,692 | Byram MS | 12,707 | $70K | 9.1% | 5.4% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,803 | Greenwood MS | 13,429 | $35K | 28.4% | 7.8% | 48% | D |
| 2,804 | La Follette TN | 7,176 | $38K | 28.2% | 7.5% | 14% | D |
| 2,805 | Cleveland MS | 10,138 | $44K | 29.3% | 7.9% | 44% | D |
| 2,806 | Clarkston WA | 7,189 | $54K | 20.7% | 9.6% | 22% | D |
| 2,807 | Southeast Arcadia FL | 7,555 | $60K | 26.4% | 12.4% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Cleveland, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
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 Cleveland: questions
What is the median household income in Cleveland?
$44,074 (±$5,310) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cleveland?
29.3%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cleveland?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cleveland work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (3%, 31 mi), Ruleville (3%, 10 mi), Jackson (3%, 103 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cleveland walkable?
Cleveland is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cleveland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cleveland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cleveland
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.