Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Perkins House and Oliver House is on the National Register of Historic Places. De Kalb has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
Where De Kalb beats most towns.
1,164 counted in 2010 and 877 in 2020; an estimated 834 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Census counts: 554 in 1920, 877 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 2007 and 2 maps from 1963 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in De Kalb, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in De Kalb.
Employers in De Kalb added 288 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 899. Most working residents leave De Kalb for work: only 18% work in town. Also worth knowing: the share of residents in De Kalb who live below the poverty line: 25%. In De Kalb, the average commute is 29 minutes, above both Mississippi’s towns (23 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes).
| De Kalb | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 25% | 21% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $48,000 | $50,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 19% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Kemper County School District. Below: Two of its 5 schools, each with why it was picked. The largest public high school is Kemper County High School, with 304 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kemper County Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 191 | C |
| Kemper County High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 304 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts
July afternoons reach 91° and January nights drop to 34°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
In De Kalb, 19% of residents are under 18, where Mississippi’s towns sit at 24% and U.S. towns at 22%. People 65 and older are 24% of residents (17% statewide); children under 18 are 19% of residents (23% statewide). Since 2020, De Kalb has lost 5% of its people, to 834 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. De Kalb: just over a fifth of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
| De Kalb | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 17% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 24% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 21% | 25% | 29% |
| Median age | 41 years | 37 years | 40.5 years |
Somewhere between 27% and 91% women
The Census survey reached too few of De Kalb’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±31.8 points. Across Mississippi, 51.5% of residents are women.
| De Kalb | MS | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 5.7% | 12.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.1% | 11.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.1% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.2% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.4% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.8% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.1% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.3% | 10.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.3% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.7% | 12.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 42.6% | 29.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.8% | 21.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.2% | 10.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 8.8% | 15.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.9% | 9.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 800, single groups can be off by several points
Only 9 of the 102 Mississippi towns we compare have a higher share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than De Kalb. 14% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in the town. Of 31 CDC measures, De Kalb beats the Mississippi average on 3 and trails it on 15. Two figures for adults here: 44% get no exercise outside work, 9.7% binge drink.
| De Kalb | Mississippi towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 16% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 36% | 25% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 13% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 55% | 45% | 35% |
| What stands out | De Kalb | MS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 9.7% | 13.6% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 83.5% | 79.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 17.7% | 11.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Of the losses FEMA expects in De Kalb, 25% come from tornadoes and 20% from inland flooding. Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 50% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in De Kalb after 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2011.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1 within 15 miles of the center of De Kalb
About 5 of every 100 De Kalb residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Mississippi.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
4 notable people were born in De Kalb.
Town in Mississippi, United States
De Kalb is a town in and the county seat of Kemper County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, De Kalb had a population of 877. De Kalb is named after General Johann de Kalb, a Franconian-French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
De Kalb has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
4 notable people were born here, including Bud Brown and Louis Westerfield.
