Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Unemployment in Iuka (1.5%) is lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Iuka is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (C+). Household incomes here are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns. About one in five work in Iuka; the top destination outside it is Corinth (11%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Iuka: the figures worth knowing
Iuka is where the jobs are
Iuka has 1,856 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Iuka workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Iuka’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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Iuka
Unemployment holds Iuka’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($49,290, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Iuka could be anywhere from D to B.
Who leaves Iuka for work, and who comes in
On a workday 946 residents head out to work, 253 work right here, and 1,603 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in Iuka on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
The 1,856 jobs based in Iuka
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Iuka, 2013 → 2023: 1,850 → 1,856. 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 Iuka’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Iuka’s workforce comes from
Where Iuka clocks in
11% 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.
About 23 minutes each way for Iuka’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Iuka workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 960 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Iuka
About 24% 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.
In Iuka, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% of 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 1,008 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). 7.4% of Iuka households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Iuka’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Iuka is 3,241st among 4,562 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 584 | Bridgetown MS | 3,195 | $139K | 1.0% | 5.8% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 933 | Gluckstadt MS | 3,500 | $124K | 5.3% | 5.4% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 996 | New Hope MS | 3,952 | $80K | 2.9% | 1.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,239 | Shenandoah Farms VA | 4,179 | $99K | 21.0% | 5.2% | 1% | C |
| 3,240 | Verona MS | 2,713 | $46K | 21.9% | 3.6% | 2% | C |
| 3,241 | Iuka MS | 3,105 | $49K | 19.6% | 1.5% | 21% | C |
| 3,242 | Greenwood Lake NY | 2,975 | $73K | 15.0% | 7.8% | 5% | C |
| 3,243 | Neillsville WI | 2,367 | $60K | 15.1% | 3.1% | 40% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | 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 Iuka, 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 Iuka: questions
What is the median household income in Iuka?
$49,290 (±$23,047) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Iuka?
19.6%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Iuka?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Iuka work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Corinth (11%, 20 mi), Tupelo (7%, 48 mi), Booneville (3%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Iuka walkable?
Iuka is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Iuka without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Iuka, from the people who make the trip.
More of Iuka
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.