New Orleans Great Northern Railroad Depot · Photo: Jfoakes · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Monticello have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Monticello for work; outside it, Brookhaven is the main destination (13%, 19 miles). 25.4% of residents are in poverty (Mississippi 18.9%). Monticello grades D− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Monticello
Monticello is where the jobs are
Monticello has 1,081 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,000 people are in town, 42% more than the 1,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
Monticello workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 26 across Mississippi. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 503 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Monticello’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Monticello is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Monticello’s grade up (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($34,250, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.8%) is left out: Monticello’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, Monticello could be anywhere from D− to D.
Monticello by day and by night
On a workday 434 residents head out to work, 69 work right here, and 1,012 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Monticello on a workday afternoon, 42% more than live here.
2.1 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.
How many miles Monticello commutes
About 35% 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.
From Monticello, about 34 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monticello workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 436 commuters (the 0% 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.
Where Monticello’s workers come from
Where Monticello clocks in
13% of workers
8% 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 kinds of work in Monticello
1,081 jobs are based in Monticello.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monticello, 2013 → 2023: 1,587 → 1,081. 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 Monticello’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Monticello: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monticello is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 436 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). 10.1% of Monticello households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Monticello’s commuters take a bus or train.
Monticello next to U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,933 | Arnold Line MS | 1,859 | $54K | 16.0% | 0.0% | <1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,001 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,293 | Hurley MS | 1,305 | $133K | 12.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,576 | Erie KS | 1,034 | $37K | 19.6% | 0.0% | 7% | D− |
| 5,577 | Duck Hill MS | 1,414 | $34K | 22.9% | 3.9% | 1% | D− |
| 5,578 | Monticello MS | 1,378 | $34K | 25.4% | 9.8% | 14% | D− |
| 5,579 | Lemmon SD | 1,158 | $50K | 22.0% | 5.1% | 38% | D− |
| 5,580 | Posey Township IN | 1,616 | $51K | 25.1% | 9.7% | 3% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Monticello, 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 Monticello: questions
What is the median household income in Monticello?
$34,250 (±$24,423) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monticello?
25.4%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monticello?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monticello work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brookhaven (13%, 19 mi), Jackson (8%, 53 mi), McComb (4%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monticello walkable?
Monticello is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monticello without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monticello, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monticello
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.