Photo: Woodlot · CC BY-SA 3.0Gulfport has higher unemployment (9.1%) than 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Gulfport D; getting around on foot earns it B+. Measured by household income, Gulfport is behind 88% of U.S. towns. About two in five stay in Gulfport for work; outside it, Biloxi is the main destination (19%, 8 miles).
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 Gulfport
Gulfport is where the jobs are
Gulfport has 39,170 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Gulfport workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Gulfport’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 ↓
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.
Where Gulfport’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gulfport is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #59 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Gulfport’s grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gulfport could be anywhere from D to C−.
Who leaves Gulfport for work, and who comes in
On a workday 14,984 residents head out to work, 10,635 work right here, and 28,535 people come in from elsewhere.
About 90,000 people are in Gulfport on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
1.5 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 39,170 jobs in Gulfport are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gulfport, 2013 → 2023: 36,157 → 39,170. 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 Gulfport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Gulfport live
Where Gulfport clocks in
19% 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.
From Gulfport, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gulfport workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 28,743 commuters (the 7% 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 far it is to work from Gulfport
About 18% 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.
Gulfport is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gulfport is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #20 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Gulfport 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 31,022 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). 8.6% of Gulfport households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Gulfport’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gulfport next to U.S. towns of 54,000 to 103,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 291 | Southaven MS | 57,819 | $78K | 12.6% | 3.3% | 17% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 561 | Porterville CA | 63,088 | $60K | 17.3% | 10.1% | 31% | C− |
| 562 | Lawton OK | 90,503 | $54K | 21.1% | 8.1% | 55% | D |
| 563 | Gulfport MS | 76,506 | $50K | 22.8% | 9.1% | 42% | D |
| 564 | Terre Haute IN | 58,764 | $43K | 24.7% | 6.9% | 46% | D |
| 565 | Port Arthur TX | 55,804 | $46K | 29.0% | 8.4% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 568 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Gulfport, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
The towns next door employ 21% of Gulfport
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gulfport workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gulfport | – | D | B+ | 22 min | $49,919 |
| Biloxi | 19% | C− | A− | 21 min | $57,204 |
| Long Beach | 2% | C+ | C | 24 min | $70,332 |
| Lyman | under 1% | C | D− | 21 min | $75,455 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Biloxi. Darker towns draw more of Gulfport’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Gulfport: questions
What is the median household income in Gulfport?
$49,919 (±$2,862) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gulfport?
22.8%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gulfport?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gulfport work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Biloxi (19%, 8 mi), D'Iberville (3%, 10 mi), Pascagoula (2%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gulfport walkable?
Gulfport is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gulfport without a car?
1% 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 Gulfport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gulfport
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.