Vernal Presbyterian Church · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Lucedale has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in Lucedale for work; outside it, Pascagoula is the main destination (9%, 40 miles). Poverty touches 40.0% of residents, where Mississippi as a whole has 18.9%. The two grades for Lucedale are D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Lucedale: the gist
Lucedale has far more jobs than workers
Lucedale has 3,175 jobs, 3.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 5,500 people are in town, 69% more than the 3,200 who live here. Day and night ↓
Lucedale’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lucedale is Pascagoula, 40 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (84) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 946 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Lucedale’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lucedale is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #97 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Lucedale’s grade up (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (7.4%) is left out: Lucedale’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lucedale stays D−.
Who works in Lucedale, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 673 residents head out to work, 273 work right here, and 2,902 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,500 people are in Lucedale on a workday afternoon, 69% more than live here.
3.4 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 commute from Lucedale, by distance
About 31% 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.
Where the people who work in Lucedale live
Where Lucedale clocks in
9% of workers
4% 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.
What the 3,175 jobs in Lucedale are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lucedale, 2013 → 2023: 3,024 → 3,175. 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 Lucedale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Lucedale: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lucedale workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 806 commuters (the 3% 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.
Driving is how Lucedale gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lucedale is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #17 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Lucedale 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 828 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). 15.2% of Lucedale households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lucedale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Lucedale sits among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 590 | Bridgetown MS | 3,195 | $139K | 1.0% | 5.8% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 932 | Gluckstadt MS | 3,500 | $124K | 5.3% | 5.4% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 996 | New Hope MS | 3,952 | $80K | 2.9% | 1.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,358 | Bonifay FL | 2,839 | $41K | 22.1% | 4.4% | 24% | D− |
| 4,359 | Soperton GA | 2,994 | $33K | 24.9% | 8.9% | 14% | D− |
| 4,360 | Lucedale MS | 3,232 | $41K | 40.0% | 7.4% | 29% | D− |
| 4,361 | Malden MO | 3,493 | $40K | 30.1% | 9.6% | 18% | D− |
| 4,362 | Union Springs AL | 3,091 | $26K | 41.3% | 8.9% | 25% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | 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 Lucedale, 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 Lucedale: questions
What is the median household income in Lucedale?
$40,668 (±$9,647) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lucedale?
40.0%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lucedale?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lucedale work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pascagoula (9%, 40 mi), Hattiesburg (4%, 50 mi), Jackson (3%, 135 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lucedale walkable?
Lucedale is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lucedale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lucedale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lucedale
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.