US Post Office-Forest · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0A job hub: Forest has 3.4 jobs per working resident, and 6,129 people come in to work
Forest grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Employers in Forest report 6,785 jobs, against 2,025 working residents. Measured by household income, Forest is behind 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Forest
Forest has far more jobs than workers
Forest has 6,785 jobs, 3.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 10,000 people are in town, 88% more than the 5,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
Forest draws workers from far and wide
The 6,785 jobs in Forest are filled from a wide area. Forest’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 16%; the other 74% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Forest makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Forest are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Forest residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 44%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Forest workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Forest’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Forest are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Mississippi worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Forest’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Forest is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #52 of 99 in Mississippi. Unemployment holds Forest’s grade up (4.1%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (33.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Forest could be anywhere from D to C+.
Forest nearly doubles on a workday
On a workday 1,369 residents head out to work and 656 work right here.
About 10,000 people are in Forest on a workday afternoon, 88% more than live here.
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 the people who work in Forest live
Where Forest clocks in
8% of workers
7% 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.
Forest makes things: 45% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forest, 2013 → 2023: 4,897 → 6,785. 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 Forest’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Forest: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forest workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,571 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Forest
About 16% 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.
Few in Forest walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forest is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #10 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Forest 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 1,571 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). 12.2% of Forest households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Forest’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Forest is 3,073rd of 3,541 U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 968 | New Hope MS | 3,952 | $80K | 2.9% | 1.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 978 | Gulf Park Estates MS | 6,264 | $66K | 5.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 987 | Saltillo MS | 5,060 | $81K | 6.8% | 1.3% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,071 | Colesville NY | 4,730 | $61K | 17.3% | 6.5% | 6% | C− |
| 3,072 | West Clarkston-Highland WA | 5,444 | $52K | 18.1% | 4.2% | 4% | C− |
| 3,073 | Forest MS | 5,433 | $50K | 33.8% | 4.1% | 32% | C− |
| 3,074 | Herkimer NY | 7,195 | $49K | 26.4% | 5.5% | 17% | C− |
| 3,075 | Chautauqua NY | 3,995 | $69K | 18.3% | 6.4% | 26% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Forest, 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 Forest: questions
What is the median household income in Forest?
$49,724 (±$3,897) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forest?
33.8%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forest?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forest work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morton (8%, 11 mi), Jackson (7%, 43 mi), Sebastopol (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Forest walkable?
Forest is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forest without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Forest, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forest
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.