Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Marks are among the lowest of any U.S. town
Below the poverty line: 18.5% of residents, against 18.9% across Mississippi. Measured by household income, Marks is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Marks grades 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
Where Marks stands out on work
Marks’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Marks is Memphis, TN, 62 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (57) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Marks workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Marks’ 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 ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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 630 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Marks’ grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Marks is better than 4% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Marks’ grade up; household income pulls it down ($32,132, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (8.7%) is left out: Marks’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Marks could be anywhere from D− to D.
Where in the region Marks works
About 33% 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.
Jobs in Marks: what the 493 are
493 jobs are based in Marks.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marks, 2013 → 2023: 582 → 493. 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 Marks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Marks on a workday
On a workday 525 residents head out to work, 105 work right here, and 388 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Marks on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 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.
9% of working residents work in Memphis
Where Marks clocks in
9% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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 trip from Marks: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marks workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 524 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.
Getting around Marks: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marks is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 558 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). 4.8% of Marks households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Marks next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,424 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,634 | Hurley MS | 1,305 | $133K | 12.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,744 | Robinhood MS | 1,298 | $70K | 14.1% | 5.1% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,006 | Montague CA | 1,157 | $60K | 26.5% | 9.0% | 6% | D− |
| 4,007 | Harbor Beach MI | 1,556 | $41K | 16.3% | 1.6% | 23% | D− |
| 4,008 | Marks MS | 1,198 | $32K | 18.5% | 8.7% | 17% | D− |
| 4,009 | Taylorsville MS | 1,103 | $38K | 23.8% | 1.6% | 10% | D− |
| 4,010 | Shelbina MO | 1,550 | $48K | 20.6% | 0.5% | 26% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Marks, 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 Marks: questions
What is the median household income in Marks?
$32,132 (±$10,712) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marks?
18.5%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marks?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marks work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Memphis (9%, 62 mi), Batesville (9%, 20 mi), Clarksdale (6%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marks walkable?
Marks is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marks without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marks
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.