Photo: Michlaovic · Public domainHousehold incomes in Laurel trail those of 90% of U.S. towns
23.3% of residents are in poverty, next to 18.9% for Mississippi as a whole. For jobs and income Laurel is better than 16% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (B−). About half work in Laurel itself; outside it, Hattiesburg draws the most (8%, 28 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Laurel and work: the main findings
Laurel has far more jobs than workers
Laurel has 18,303 jobs, 3.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 30,000 people are in town, 70% more than the 18,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Laurel draws workers from far and wide
The 18,303 jobs in Laurel are filled from a wide area. Laurel’s own residents hold 15% and the ten next-biggest home towns 12%; the other 73% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Laurel are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Mississippi worker. Time on the road ↓
Laurel makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Laurel are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Laurel residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 37%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Laurel workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Laurel’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% 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.
How Laurel earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Laurel’s grade up (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Laurel could be anywhere from D to C.
Who leaves Laurel for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,225 residents head out to work, 2,780 work right here, and 15,523 people come in from elsewhere.
About 30,000 people are in Laurel on a workday afternoon, 70% more than live here.
3.0 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.
Commuting in to Laurel: where workers come from
Where Laurel clocks in
8% 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 Laurel, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Laurel workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,111 commuters (the 6% 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.
Goods, not services: 44% of the jobs in Laurel
18,303 jobs are based in Laurel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Laurel, 2013 → 2023: 18,043 → 18,303. 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 Laurel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Laurel
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.
Most trips from Laurel start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 7,532 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). 4.5% of Laurel households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Laurel’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Laurel compares with U.S. towns of 12,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 845 | Hernando MS | 18,824 | $77K | 8.8% | 2.5% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 986 | Ocean Springs MS | 18,993 | $80K | 5.5% | 4.2% | 23% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,339 | Byram MS | 12,707 | $70K | 9.1% | 5.4% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,929 | Lady Lake FL | 17,496 | $46K | 12.3% | 7.6% | 9% | C− |
| 1,930 | Pottsville PA | 13,170 | $54K | 19.9% | 7.2% | 21% | C− |
| 1,931 | Laurel MS | 17,662 | $48K | 23.3% | 5.6% | 46% | C− |
| 1,932 | Boone NC | 19,929 | $30K | 51.2% | 12.0% | 37% | C− |
| 1,933 | Gainesville TX | 18,528 | $59K | 19.1% | 8.1% | 28% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,103 | 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 Laurel, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
The towns around Laurel
The biggest share goes to Ellisville (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Laurel workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laurel | – | C− | B− | 16 min | $47,661 |
| Ellisville | 3% | D | B+ | 19 min | $32,100 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Laurel’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 Laurel: questions
What is the median household income in Laurel?
$47,661 (±$5,501) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Laurel?
23.3%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Laurel?
16 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Laurel work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hattiesburg (8%, 28 mi), Ellisville (3%, 7 mi), Jackson (2%, 76 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Laurel walkable?
Laurel is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Laurel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Laurel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Laurel
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.