Eureka Masonic College · Photo: NatalieMaynor · CC BY 2.0Goodman’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
The poverty rate is 59.0% (Mississippi 18.9%). Measured by household income, Goodman is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Goodman grades D− for jobs and income.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Goodman at work: what stands out
Goodman’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Goodman is Jackson, 48 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (32) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Goodman is a place people come home to
There are 51 jobs based in Goodman, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
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 288 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Goodman’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Goodman is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Goodman’s grade up (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($15,039, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (19.5%) is left out: Goodman’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, Goodman stays D−.
How far it is to work from Goodman
About 27% 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.
Who commutes out of Goodman, and who commutes in
On a workday 284 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 47 people come in from elsewhere.
About 980 people are in Goodman on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.18 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.
11% of working residents work in Jackson
Where Goodman clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Goodman
51 jobs are based in Goodman.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Goodman, 2013 → 2023: 283 → 51. 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 Goodman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Goodman, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Goodman workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 189 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.
How Goodman compares with U.S. towns of 900 to 1,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,424 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,634 | Hurley MS | 1,305 | $133K | 12.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,744 | Robinhood MS | 1,298 | $70K | 14.1% | 5.1% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,232 | Mammoth AZ | 1,149 | $47K | 29.0% | 17.6% | 3% | D− |
| 4,233 | Clarks LA | 1,034 | $28K | 29.2% | 3.8% | 2% | D− |
| 4,234 | Goodman MS | 1,219 | $15K | 59.0% | 19.5% | 1% | D− |
| 4,235 | Lone Pine CA | 1,439 | $43K | 24.5% | 2.8% | 30% | D− |
| 4,236 | Lake Medina Shores TX | 1,411 | $47K | 31.1% | 6.8% | <1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Goodman, 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 Goodman: questions
What is the median household income in Goodman?
$15,039 (±$6,716) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Goodman?
59.0%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Goodman?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Goodman work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (11%, 48 mi), Ridgeland (7%, 40 mi), Canton (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Goodman without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 51% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Goodman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Goodman
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.