Photo: Zach123abc · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and the daily commute in Ocean Springs
About one in five stay in Ocean Springs for work; outside it, Biloxi is the main destination (15%, 9 miles). Jobs and income earn Ocean Springs B+; getting around on foot earns it B−. The average commute takes 26 minutes each way, next to 26 for Mississippi and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Ocean Springs: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ocean Springs is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #9 of 99 in Mississippi. The poverty rate is its strongest input (5.5%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ocean Springs could be anywhere from B− to A.
The workday shuffle in and out of Ocean Springs
On a workday 5,446 residents head out to work, 1,528 work right here, and 7,402 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Ocean Springs on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Ocean Springs’ working residents head each day
Where Ocean Springs clocks in
15% of workers
13% of workers
10% 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.
In Ocean Springs, services account for most jobs
8,930 jobs are based in Ocean Springs.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ocean Springs, 2014 → 2024: 8,120 → 8,930. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Ocean Springs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Ocean Springs
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ocean Springs workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,063 commuters (the 11% 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.
How far Ocean Springs goes to work
About 17% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Ocean Springs, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ocean Springs is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #44 of 101 in Mississippi. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 9,016 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). 4.5% of Ocean Springs households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ocean Springs’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 13,000 to 26,000, Ocean Springs ranks 963rd of 2,023 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 826 | Hernando MS | 18,824 | $77K | 8.8% | 2.5% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 961 | Nantucket MA | 14,758 | $140K | 3.2% | 4.3% | 68% | B+ |
| 962 | Oxford MA | 13,514 | $104K | 7.7% | 5.8% | 9% | B+ |
| 963 | Ocean Springs MS | 18,993 | $80K | 5.5% | 4.2% | 22% | B+ |
| 964 | Harrison NJ | 22,105 | $93K | 11.8% | 5.3% | 5% | B+ |
| 965 | Mandan ND | 25,061 | $72K | 9.8% | 1.5% | 24% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,188 | Ridgeland MS | 24,750 | $66K | 9.9% | 4.1% | 17% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,380 | D'Iberville MS | 13,557 | $66K | 18.8% | 3.1% | 12% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,023 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Ocean Springs, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Next door is work for 18% of Ocean Springs
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ocean Springs workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Springs | – | B+ | B− | 26 min | $79,712 |
| Gulf Hills | under 1% | C+ | C− | 26 min | $72,839 |
| Gulf Park Estates | under 1% | A− | C+ | 26 min | $65,556 |
| Biloxi | 15% | C− | A− | 21 min | $57,204 |
| Gautier | 3% | C+ | C− | 24 min | $61,926 |
| St. Martin | under 1% | C− | C+ | 22 min | $55,000 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Biloxi. Darker towns draw more of Ocean Springs’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Ocean Springs: questions
What is the median household income in Ocean Springs?
$79,712 (±$8,540) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ocean Springs?
5.5%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ocean Springs?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ocean Springs work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Biloxi (15%, 9 mi), Pascagoula (13%, 14 mi), Gulfport (10%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Ocean Springs walkable?
Ocean Springs is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ocean Springs without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ocean Springs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ocean Springs
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.