Springfield Plantation · Photo: Lordoliver at en.wikipedia · Public domainHouseholds in Fayette earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
Measured by household income, Fayette is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Below the poverty line: 38.0% of residents, next to 18.9% for Mississippi as a whole. For jobs and income Fayette is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Fayette
Fayette’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fayette is Jackson, 65 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (23) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fayette is where the jobs are
Fayette has 527 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
45% 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 290 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Fayette’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Fayette is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fayette’s grade.
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Fayette’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, Fayette stays D−.
The distance from Fayette to work
About 45% 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.
Fayette fills up on a workday
On a workday 230 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 467 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Fayette on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
1.8 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.
The daily trip into Fayette
Where Fayette clocks in
8% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Fayette
527 jobs are based in Fayette.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayette, 2013 → 2023: 559 → 527. 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 Fayette’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Fayette, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fayette workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 417 commuters (the 19% 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.
Few in Fayette walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below 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 513 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). 9.4% of Fayette households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fayette’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fayette next to 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,331 | Clio AL | 1,202 | $29K | 38.9% | 12.5% | 6% | D− |
| 5,332 | Salyersville KY | 1,502 | $21K | 58.2% | 7.1% | 25% | D− |
| 5,333 | Fayette MS | 1,315 | $29K | 38.0% | 1.0% | 21% | D− |
| 5,334 | Tchula MS | 1,659 | $35K | 44.6% | 23.9% | 1% | D− |
| 5,335 | Hollis OK | 1,673 | $39K | 29.2% | 10.0% | 40% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Fayette, 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 Fayette: questions
What is the median household income in Fayette?
$28,567 (±$9,685) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayette?
38.0%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fayette?
16 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayette work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (8%, 65 mi), Natchez (3%, 22 mi), Vicksburg (3%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fayette walkable?
Fayette is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayette 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 Fayette, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayette
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.