Photo: Ktkvtsh · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Decatur have lower incomes than those in 88% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 20.7% of residents, against 18.9% across Mississippi. The two grades for Decatur are D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in ten work in Decatur; the top destination outside it is Newton (16%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Decatur’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Decatur is better than 8% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Decatur’s grade.
Unemployment (6.6%) is left out: Decatur’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, Decatur could be anywhere from D− to C.
The daily commute in and out of Decatur
On a workday 548 residents head out to work, 56 work right here, and 644 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 (1.16 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.
Where Decatur goes to work
Where Decatur clocks in
16% of workers
15% 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.
Most jobs in Decatur are in services
700 jobs are based in Decatur.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Decatur, 2013 → 2023: 782 → 700. 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 Decatur’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Decatur takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Decatur workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 644 commuters (the 2% 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.
How far Decatur’s workers travel
About 28% 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.
Most of Decatur commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Decatur is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Decatur 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 657 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 Decatur households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Decatur’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, Decatur comes 4,931st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,793 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,807 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,840 | Sumrall MS | 2,299 | $70K | 4.4% | 6.9% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,929 | Kearny AZ | 1,849 | $47K | 11.5% | 4.4% | 7% | D |
| 4,930 | Lepanto AR | 1,643 | $44K | 17.0% | 8.0% | 7% | D |
| 4,931 | Decatur MS | 1,878 | $50K | 20.7% | 6.6% | 9% | D |
| 4,932 | Unionville MO | 1,663 | $61K | 18.3% | 2.7% | 30% | D |
| 4,933 | Walters OK | 2,355 | $54K | 26.8% | 3.6% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Decatur, 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 Decatur: questions
What is the median household income in Decatur?
$50,128 (±$7,207) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Decatur?
20.7%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Decatur?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Decatur work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Newton (16%, 8 mi), Meridian (15%, 25 mi), Forest (8%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Decatur walkable?
Decatur is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Decatur 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 Decatur, from the people who make the trip.
More of Decatur
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.