Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Coldwater trail those of 93% of U.S. towns
Only 2% stay in Coldwater for work; outside it, Memphis is the main destination (17%, 29 miles). Poverty touches 33.7% of residents (Mississippi 18.9%). The two grades for Coldwater are C− 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
What the numbers say about work in Coldwater
The four measures behind Coldwater’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Coldwater is better than 16% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Coldwater’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (5.3%) is left out: Coldwater’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Coldwater could be anywhere from D to C.
How far Coldwater’s workers travel
About 18% 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 and out of Coldwater on a workday
On a workday 485 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 369 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 (0.77 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.
Commuting out of Coldwater: the destinations
Where Coldwater clocks in
17% of workers
11% of workers
10% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 31% of the jobs in Coldwater
378 jobs are based in Coldwater.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Coldwater, 2013 → 2023: 227 → 378. 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 Coldwater’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Coldwater takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Coldwater workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 464 commuters (the 0% 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.
In Coldwater, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Coldwater is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Coldwater near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 464 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). 9.1% of Coldwater households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Coldwater’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Coldwater ranks: 3,958th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,835 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,104 | Hurley MS | 1,305 | $133K | 12.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,239 | Robinhood MS | 1,298 | $70K | 14.1% | 5.1% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,956 | Farmersburg IN | 1,067 | $54K | 12.7% | 2.4% | 3% | C− |
| 3,957 | Wolcottville IN | 1,052 | $54K | 17.4% | 6.5% | 2% | C− |
| 3,958 | Coldwater MS | 1,326 | $44K | 33.7% | 5.3% | 2% | C− |
| 3,959 | Advance MO | 1,323 | $60K | 14.0% | 0.7% | 9% | C− |
| 3,960 | Yachats OR | 1,013 | $67K | 12.4% | 7.2% | 20% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Coldwater, 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 Coldwater: questions
What is the median household income in Coldwater?
$44,054 (±$15,528) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Coldwater?
33.7%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Coldwater?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Coldwater work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Memphis (17%, 29 mi), Southaven (11%, 18 mi), Olive Branch (10%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Coldwater walkable?
Coldwater is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Coldwater without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Coldwater, from the people who make the trip.
More of Coldwater
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.