Photo: Cayla.campPR · CC BY-SA 4.0About half of Petal’s working residents commute to Hattiesburg
Petal has 3,688 jobs for 4,055 working residents. The two grades for Petal are B− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Commuters spend 22 minutes getting to work on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Petal, in brief
Petal trades workers with the towns around it
Petal has about as many jobs (3,688) as working residents (4,055), but they are mostly different people: 3,489 residents leave for work each day while 3,122 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in Petal are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly half of Petal works in Hattiesburg
1,824 working residents, 45%, have their main job in Hattiesburg, 5.6 miles away across the town line. That’s 3 times as many as work in Petal itself. The commute map ↓
Petal has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Petal went from 2,221 in 2013 to 3,688 in 2023, +66%. The jobs ↓
Most Petal residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Petal
50% of Petal residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Petal pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 86% leave town for their job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Petal’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Petal is better than 50% of U.S. towns, #21 of 99 in Mississippi. Unemployment holds Petal’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Petal could be anywhere from C to B+.
Petal on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,489 residents head out to work, 566 work right here, and 3,122 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 (0.91 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.
Where Petal’s working residents head each day
Where Petal clocks in
45% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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 kinds of work in Petal
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Petal, 2013 → 2023: 2,221 → 3,688. 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 Petal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Petal commutes less than 7 miles
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Petal
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Petal workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,834 commuters (the 5% 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.
Petal is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Petal is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns, #81 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 5,087 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). 2.7% of Petal households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Petal’s commuters take a bus or train.
Petal next to U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000: 1,619th of 2,695 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,339 | Diamondhead MS | 9,441 | $87K | 7.0% | 4.2% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,401 | Flowood MS | 11,003 | $84K | 13.4% | 4.1% | 15% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,610 | Byram MS | 12,707 | $70K | 9.1% | 5.4% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,617 | Winterville NC | 10,973 | $83K | 9.8% | 5.4% | 5% | B− |
| 1,618 | Harrison Township IN | 9,017 | $62K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 28% | B− |
| 1,619 | Petal MS | 11,694 | $75K | 11.1% | 3.6% | 14% | B− |
| 1,620 | Oak Grove MO | 9,370 | $75K | 8.6% | 6.5% | 8% | B− |
| 1,621 | Washington Township IN | 14,073 | $64K | 12.0% | 2.3% | 40% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Petal, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
45% of Petal works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Petal workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petal | – | B− | C− | 22 min | $74,750 |
| Hattiesburg | 45% | D | A− | 17 min | $46,342 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Hattiesburg. Darker towns draw more of Petal’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 Petal: questions
What is the median household income in Petal?
$74,750 (±$7,031) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Petal?
11.1%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Petal?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Petal work?
14% work in town.
Is Petal walkable?
Petal is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Petal 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 Petal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Petal
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.