Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture · Public domainGreenwood’s household incomes are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Greenwood D; getting around on foot earns it A−. Poverty touches 28.4% of residents, next to 18.9% for Mississippi as a whole. About half stay in Greenwood for work; outside it, Jackson is the main destination (4%, 83 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Greenwood: the gist
Greenwood is where the jobs are
Greenwood has 9,439 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Greenwood workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Greenwood’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Greenwood draws workers from far and wide
The 9,439 jobs in Greenwood are filled from a wide area. Greenwood’s own residents hold 25% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Greenwood’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Greenwood is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #85 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Greenwood’s grade up (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($35,473, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Greenwood could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Greenwood on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,532 residents head out to work, 2,328 work right here, and 7,111 people come in from elsewhere.
About 18,000 people are in Greenwood on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
1.9 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.
What the 9,439 jobs in Greenwood are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Greenwood, 2013 → 2023: 11,052 → 9,439. 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 Greenwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Greenwood: where workers come from
Where Greenwood clocks in
4% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
How long Greenwood spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Greenwood workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,839 commuters (the 4% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Greenwood
About 26% 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.
Greenwood is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Greenwood is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #7 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Greenwood 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 5,063 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). 17.2% of Greenwood households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Greenwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Greenwood and other U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,280 | Diamondhead MS | 9,441 | $87K | 7.0% | 4.2% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,334 | Flowood MS | 11,003 | $84K | 13.4% | 4.1% | 15% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,540 | Byram MS | 12,707 | $70K | 9.1% | 5.4% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,473 | Berlin NH | 9,502 | $45K | 15.3% | 7.1% | 33% | D |
| 2,474 | Lawrenceburg TN | 12,236 | $42K | 21.5% | 7.8% | 35% | D |
| 2,475 | Greenwood MS | 13,429 | $35K | 28.4% | 7.8% | 48% | D |
| 2,476 | Homosassa Springs FL | 15,701 | $48K | 20.3% | 8.4% | 7% | D |
| 2,477 | Talladega AL | 14,840 | $44K | 25.6% | 12.6% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Greenwood, 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 Greenwood: questions
What is the median household income in Greenwood?
$35,473 (±$8,451) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Greenwood?
28.4%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Greenwood?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Greenwood work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (4%, 83 mi), Grenada (3%, 29 mi), Greenville (2%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Greenwood walkable?
Greenwood is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Greenwood without a car?
<1% 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 Greenwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Greenwood
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.