Photo: Kevin magee · CC BY-SA 4.0Pearl’s household incomes are lower than in 71% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Pearl B−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Poverty touches 12.2% of residents (Mississippi 18.9%). About one in seven stay in Pearl for work; outside it, Jackson is the main destination (28%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Pearl, in brief
Much of Pearl works one town over
48% of working residents work in a town that borders Pearl: Jackson (28%), Flowood (11%) and Brandon (5%). Next door ↓
Pearl trades workers with the towns around it
Pearl has about as many jobs (12,944) as working residents (10,860), but they are mostly different people: 9,302 residents leave for work each day while 11,386 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Pearl are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Pearl residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. 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.
Where Pearl’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pearl is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #22 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Pearl’s grade up (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($61,695, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pearl could be anywhere from C to B+.
The daily commute in and out of Pearl
On a workday 9,302 residents head out to work, 1,558 work right here, and 11,386 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.19 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How many miles Pearl commutes
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.
Where Pearl’s working residents head each day
Where Pearl clocks in
28% 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.
The 12,944 jobs based in Pearl
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pearl, 2013 → 2023: 13,177 → 12,944. 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 Pearl’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Pearl
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pearl workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,897 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.
In Pearl, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pearl is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns, #50 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Pearl near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,972 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). 2.6% of Pearl households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pearl’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 20,000 to 39,000, Pearl ranks 1,016th of 1,467 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Madison MS | 28,575 | $119K | 4.8% | 2.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 744 | Clinton MS | 26,640 | $75K | 9.6% | 3.2% | 14% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 787 | Brandon MS | 26,122 | $93K | 8.5% | 5.2% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,014 | Mason City IA | 26,853 | $65K | 12.0% | 2.8% | 56% | B− |
| 1,015 | Ashland CA | 22,210 | $82K | 16.4% | 6.7% | 3% | B− |
| 1,016 | Pearl MS | 28,864 | $62K | 12.2% | 4.3% | 14% | B− |
| 1,017 | Imperial Beach CA | 25,206 | $86K | 14.8% | 7.1% | 5% | B− |
| 1,018 | Fort Walton Beach FL | 21,097 | $69K | 13.3% | 3.5% | 23% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Pearl, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
48% of Pearl works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Jackson. Darker towns draw more of Pearl’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 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 Pearl: questions
What is the median household income in Pearl?
$61,695 (±$8,495) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pearl?
12.2%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pearl?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pearl work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (28%, 8 mi), Flowood (11%, 5 mi), Ridgeland (7%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pearl walkable?
Pearl is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pearl without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pearl, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pearl
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.