More than half of Oak Grove’s working residents commute to Hattiesburg
The two grades for Oak Grove are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Only 1% work in Oak Grove itself; outside it, Hattiesburg draws the most (54%, 6 miles). Commuters spend 20 minutes getting to work on average; Mississippi averages 26, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Oak Grove apart
More than half of Oak Grove works in Hattiesburg
365 working residents, 54%, have their main job in Hattiesburg, 5.9 miles away. That’s 54 times as many as work in Oak Grove itself. The commute map ↓
Most Oak Grove residents work close to home
69% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Commutes from Oak Grove are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Mississippi 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 679 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Oak Grove’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oak Grove is better than 44% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Oak Grove’s grade up ($82,411, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (8.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oak Grove could be anywhere from D to A+.
Where Oak Grove’s working residents head each day
Where Oak Grove clocks in
54% of workers
3% 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.
How far Oak Grove goes to work
About 15% 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.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Mississippi
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oak Grove workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 939 commuters (the 7% 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.
Oak Grove by day and by night
On a workday 672 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 218 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Oak Grove on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.33 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Oak Grove
225 jobs are based in Oak Grove.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oak Grove, 2013 → 2023: 107 → 225. 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 Oak Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Oak Grove start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oak Grove is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 1.8% across Mississippi, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,011 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). 1.0% of Oak Grove households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oak Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oak Grove places 2,487th of 5,148 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,653 | Guntown MS | 2,616 | $96K | 9.8% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,722 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,733 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,485 | Huguley AL | 2,577 | $44K | 10.7% | 0.0% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,486 | Lake Belvedere Estates FL | 2,672 | $76K | 13.7% | 7.9% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,487 | Oak Grove MS | 2,098 | $82K | 8.3% | 8.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,488 | Graysville AL | 1,855 | $70K | 10.6% | 7.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,489 | Gilman IL | 1,681 | $71K | 6.1% | 6.8% | 18% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Oak Grove, 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 Oak Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Oak Grove?
$82,411 (±$41,865) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oak Grove?
8.3%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oak Grove?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oak Grove work?
1% work in town.
Is Oak Grove walkable?
Oak Grove is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oak Grove without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oak Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oak Grove
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.