Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0New Albany has 2.1 jobs for every working resident: 5,552 people commute in to work
Employers in New Albany report 6,567 jobs, against 3,058 working residents. Jobs and income earn New Albany C+; getting around on foot earns it C−. Measured by household income, New Albany is behind 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
New Albany and work: the main findings
New Albany is where the jobs are
New Albany has 6,567 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 11,000 people are in town, 45% more than the 7,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
New Albany draws workers from far and wide
The 6,567 jobs in New Albany are filled from a wide area. New Albany’s own residents hold 15% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from New Albany are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Mississippi worker. Time on the road ↓
New Albany’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside New Albany is Tupelo, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (395) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
The figures behind New Albany’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, New Albany is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #32 of 99 in Mississippi. Unemployment holds New Albany’s grade up (2.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($51,332, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, New Albany could be anywhere from C− to B.
How many people are in New Albany by day
On a workday 2,043 residents head out to work and 1,015 work right here.
About 11,000 people are in New Albany on a workday afternoon, 45% more 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 daily trip into New Albany
Where New Albany clocks in
13% 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.
Commuting from New Albany: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Albany workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,054 commuters (the 2% 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.
Miles to work from New Albany
About 16% 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.
What New Albany’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Albany, 2013 → 2023: 6,083 → 6,567. 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 New Albany’s own residents hold wherever they work.
New Albany is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, New Albany is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns, #78 of 101 in Mississippi. 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 3,122 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). 6.8% of New Albany households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of New Albany’s commuters take a bus or train.
New Albany is 2,171st of 3,091 U.S. towns of 5,400 to 10,500 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 959 | Gulf Park Estates MS | 6,264 | $66K | 5.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,432 | Diamondhead MS | 9,441 | $87K | 7.0% | 4.2% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,832 | Pass Christian MS | 6,459 | $78K | 8.4% | 5.6% | 10% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,169 | Madison Heights VA | 10,266 | $60K | 10.5% | 5.2% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,170 | Preston ID | 6,177 | $61K | 11.0% | 2.7% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,171 | New Albany MS | 7,756 | $51K | 14.8% | 2.5% | 33% | C+ |
| 2,172 | St. John MO | 6,441 | $54K | 15.4% | 6.3% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,173 | Ventnor City NJ | 9,345 | $69K | 10.1% | 9.5% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,091 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 New Albany, 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 New Albany: questions
What is the median household income in New Albany?
$51,332 (±$7,295) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Albany?
14.8%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Albany?
18 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Albany work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tupelo (13%, 22 mi), Ecru (4%, 10 mi), Pontotoc (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is New Albany walkable?
New Albany is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Albany without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Albany, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Albany
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.