Elliott-Donaldson House · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Okolona ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
43.2% of residents are in poverty; Mississippi has 18.9%. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Okolona grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Okolona
Fewer jobs are based in Okolona than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Okolona fell from 1,018 in 2013 to 591 in 2023, −42%. 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Okolona workers earn over $40,000 a year
36% of Okolona’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Okolona makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Okolona are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Okolona residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 37%. The jobs ↓
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 912 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Okolona’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Okolona is better than 5% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Okolona’s grade up (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($26,042, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (13.8%) is left out: Okolona’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Okolona stays D.
36% of the jobs in Okolona make or build things
591 jobs are based in Okolona.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Okolona, 2013 → 2023: 1,018 → 591. 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 Okolona’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Okolona on a workday afternoon
On a workday 788 residents head out to work, 124 work right here, and 467 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Okolona on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.65 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.
26% of working residents work in Tupelo
Where Okolona clocks in
26% 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.
About 23 minutes to work from Okolona
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Okolona workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 772 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.
How far it is to work from Okolona
About 20% 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.
Driving is how Okolona gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Okolona is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 1.8% across Mississippi, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 800 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). 20.0% of Okolona households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Okolona’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200, and where Okolona sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 534 | Bridgetown MS | 3,195 | $139K | 1.0% | 5.8% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,722 | Guntown MS | 2,616 | $96K | 9.8% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,797 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,610 | Kenockee Township MI | 2,376 | $62K | 22.7% | 14.0% | 2% | D |
| 4,611 | Newton MS | 3,040 | $32K | 29.4% | 6.6% | 23% | D |
| 4,612 | Okolona MS | 2,394 | $26K | 43.2% | 13.8% | 14% | D |
| 4,613 | Morrisville NY | 1,795 | $50K | 19.6% | 7.2% | 8% | D |
| 4,614 | Checotah OK | 3,096 | $37K | 18.8% | 7.4% | 19% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | 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 Okolona, 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 Okolona: questions
What is the median household income in Okolona?
$26,042 (±$9,337) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Okolona?
43.2%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Okolona?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Okolona work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tupelo (26%, 18 mi), Houston (4%, 16 mi), Amory (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Okolona walkable?
Okolona is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Okolona without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Okolona, from the people who make the trip.
More of Okolona
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.