Fort Massachusetts · Photo: Edibobb · CC BY 3.0Long Beach has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
About one in ten stay in Long Beach for work; outside it, Gulfport is the main destination (33%, 7 miles). 2,381 jobs are based in Long Beach for 6,005 working residents. Jobs and income earn Long Beach C+; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Long Beach stands out on work
Inside Long Beach’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Long Beach is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #30 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Long Beach’s grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.1%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Long Beach could be anywhere from C to B.
Out of Long Beach to work: where people go
Where Long Beach clocks in
33% of workers
12% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Long Beach
On a workday 5,333 residents head out to work, 672 work right here, and 1,709 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Long Beach on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
The kinds of work in Long Beach
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Long Beach, 2013 → 2023: 2,752 → 2,381. 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 Long Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Mississippi
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Long Beach workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,004 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 Long Beach
About 17% 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.
For most of Long Beach, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Long Beach is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns, #71 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Long Beach 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 7,541 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). 3.2% of Long Beach households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Long Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Long Beach is 1,456th among 1,999 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 806 | Hernando MS | 18,824 | $77K | 8.8% | 2.5% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 941 | Ocean Springs MS | 18,993 | $80K | 5.5% | 4.2% | 23% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,273 | Byram MS | 12,707 | $70K | 9.1% | 5.4% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,454 | Bayou Cane LA | 21,253 | $74K | 16.0% | 5.0% | 19% | C+ |
| 1,455 | Lincoln IL | 12,981 | $57K | 17.0% | 2.9% | 31% | C+ |
| 1,456 | Long Beach MS | 17,309 | $70K | 11.5% | 6.1% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,457 | East Riverdale MD | 18,336 | $82K | 24.0% | 10.7% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,458 | Burley ID | 12,409 | $67K | 15.3% | 2.8% | 35% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | 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 Long Beach, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Bordering towns draw 35% of Long Beach’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Long Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long Beach | – | C+ | C | 24 min | $70,332 |
| Gulfport | 33% | D | B+ | 22 min | $49,919 |
| Pass Christian | 2% | B− | C | 34 min | $78,212 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Gulfport. Darker towns draw more of Long Beach’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 Long Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Long Beach?
$70,332 (±$7,898) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Long Beach?
11.5%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Long Beach?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Long Beach work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gulfport (33%, 7 mi), Biloxi (12%, 14 mi), Bay St. Louis (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Long Beach walkable?
Long Beach is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Long Beach without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Long Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Long Beach
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.