Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes put Drew near the very bottom of U.S. towns
34.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 18.9% across Mississippi. Measured by household income, Drew is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Jobs and income earn Drew D−; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Drew: the gist
Fewer jobs are based in Drew than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Drew fell from 1,218 in 2013 to 161 in 2023, −87%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 388 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Drew’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Drew is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Drew’s grade up (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($23,973, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (13.7%) is left out: Drew’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Drew stays D−.
Most jobs in Drew are in services
161 jobs are based in Drew.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Drew, 2013 → 2023: 1,218 → 161. 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 Drew’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Drew
About 40% 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.
How a workday changes Drew
On a workday 375 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 148 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Drew on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.41 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
14% of working residents work in Cleveland
Where Drew clocks in
14% of workers
11% of workers
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.
Getting to work from Drew takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Drew workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 718 commuters (the 5% 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.
Most trips from Drew start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Drew is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Drew 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 758 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). 17.3% of Drew households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Drew’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Drew compares with U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,637 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,653 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,919 | Arnold Line MS | 1,859 | $54K | 16.0% | 0.0% | <1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,242 | Sneads FL | 1,784 | $39K | 21.8% | 6.3% | 4% | D− |
| 5,243 | Jackson KY | 2,054 | $33K | 27.1% | 12.3% | 35% | D− |
| 5,244 | Drew MS | 1,658 | $24K | 34.6% | 13.7% | 3% | D− |
| 5,245 | Bruce MS | 1,608 | $27K | 31.1% | 3.2% | 14% | D− |
| 5,246 | Estill SC | 1,778 | $36K | 24.4% | 6.4% | 6% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | 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 Drew, 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 Drew: questions
What is the median household income in Drew?
$23,973 (±$7,451) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Drew?
34.6%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Drew?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Drew work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (14%, 12 mi), Ruleville (11%, 6 mi), Jackson (7%, 105 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Drew walkable?
Drew is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Drew without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Drew, from the people who make the trip.
More of Drew
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.