Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Moorhead earn less than those in 98% of U.S. towns
25.6% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 18.9% for Mississippi as a whole. For jobs and income Moorhead is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (C+). Only 2% work in Moorhead itself; outside it, Indianola draws the most (18%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Moorhead: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Moorhead than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Moorhead fell from 461 in 2013 to 112 in 2023, −76%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Moorhead and Indianola trade workers both ways
Indianola is the top workplace for Moorhead residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Moorhead come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Moorhead is a place people come home to
There are 112 jobs based in Moorhead, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
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 480 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Moorhead’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Moorhead’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($34,625, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (20.1%) is left out: Moorhead’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, Moorhead could be anywhere from D− to D.
Inside Moorhead’s 112 jobs
112 jobs are based in Moorhead.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Moorhead, 2013 → 2023: 461 → 112. 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 Moorhead’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Moorhead goes to work
Where Moorhead clocks in
18% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
How a workday changes Moorhead
On a workday 469 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 101 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Moorhead on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.23 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 daily trip from Moorhead: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Moorhead workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 316 commuters (the 4% 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.
Moorhead’s commute, mile by mile
About 36% 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.
Most trips from Moorhead start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 329 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). 10.7% of Moorhead households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Moorhead’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Moorhead sits among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,875 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,891 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,927 | Sumrall MS | 2,299 | $70K | 4.4% | 6.9% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,682 | Wrens GA | 2,100 | $38K | 26.1% | 17.4% | 13% | D− |
| 5,683 | Aitkin MN | 2,155 | $48K | 22.1% | 4.0% | 38% | D− |
| 5,684 | Moorhead MS | 1,754 | $35K | 25.6% | 20.1% | 2% | D− |
| 5,685 | Bryson City NC | 1,525 | $44K | 24.3% | 1.0% | 20% | D− |
| 5,686 | Fairmont NC | 2,231 | $37K | 29.0% | 7.8% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Moorhead, 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 Moorhead: questions
What is the median household income in Moorhead?
$34,625 (±$11,857) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Moorhead?
25.6%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Moorhead?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Moorhead work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Indianola (18%, 8 mi), Greenwood (8%, 18 mi), Jackson (5%, 80 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Moorhead walkable?
Moorhead is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Moorhead without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Moorhead, from the people who make the trip.
More of Moorhead
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.