Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Leland’s household incomes are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 29.3% of residents; Mississippi has 18.9%. The two grades for Leland are D− for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in five work in Leland itself; outside it, Greenville draws the most (24%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Leland apart on work
Commutes from Leland are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Mississippi worker. Time on the road ↓
Leland and Greenville trade workers both ways
Greenville is the top workplace for Leland residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Leland come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Leland workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Leland’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.
The figures behind Leland’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Leland is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #93 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Leland’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($37,406, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Leland could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The trip to work from Leland: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Leland workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,347 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.
The towns that employ Leland’s residents
Where Leland clocks in
24% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
Inside Leland’s 1,113 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leland, 2013 → 2023: 880 → 1,113. 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 Leland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Leland, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,146 residents head out to work, 259 work right here, and 854 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.79 per resident).
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 commute from Leland, by distance
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 of Leland commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Leland is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #63 of 101 in Mississippi. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 1,449 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). 7.5% of Leland households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Leland’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Leland compares with U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 607 | Bridgetown MS | 3,195 | $139K | 1.0% | 5.8% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 953 | Gluckstadt MS | 3,500 | $124K | 5.3% | 5.4% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,020 | New Hope MS | 3,952 | $80K | 2.9% | 1.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,195 | Springhill Township PA | 2,622 | $45K | 23.2% | 9.4% | 2% | D− |
| 4,196 | Arcadia LA | 2,534 | $25K | 42.1% | 4.4% | 36% | D− |
| 4,197 | Leland MS | 3,555 | $37K | 29.3% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
| 4,198 | Whiteville TN | 4,482 | $42K | 28.4% | 15.1% | 6% | D− |
| 4,199 | San Diego TX | 3,503 | $53K | 34.0% | 10.8% | 13% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | 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 Leland, 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 Leland: questions
What is the median household income in Leland?
$37,406 (±$5,349) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leland?
29.3%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leland?
15 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leland work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (24%, 9 mi), Indianola (7%, 15 mi), Cleveland (4%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Leland walkable?
Leland is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Leland without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Leland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leland
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.