With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Lena works elsewhere
Hardly any work in Lena; the top destination outside it is Carthage (15%, 11 miles). Lena has 13 jobs; 68 of its residents have a job. 15% of workers work from home, where Mississippi as a whole has 6%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lena on a workday afternoon
On a workday 68 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 13 people come in from elsewhere.
About 100 people are in Lena on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.
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 out of Lena: the destinations
Where Lena clocks in
15% of workers
6% 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.
What Lena’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lena, 2013 → 2023: 20 → 13. 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 Lena’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Lena, about 37 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lena workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 75 commuters (the 15% 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 Lena
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.
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 Lena: questions
What is the median household income in Lena?
$96,786 (±$25,807) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lena?
5.9%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lena?
37 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lena work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Carthage (15%, 11 mi), Jackson (6%, 41 mi), Morton (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Lena without a car?
11% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lena, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lena
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.