Photo: Ente75 · Public domainPicayune’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
20.6% of residents are in poverty, where Mississippi as a whole has 18.9%. Picayune grades D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in four work in Picayune itself; outside it, Slidell draws the most (7%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Picayune stands out on work
Picayune draws workers from far and wide
The 5,586 jobs in Picayune are filled from a wide area. Picayune’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Picayune workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 26 across Mississippi. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Picayune workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Picayune’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 ↓
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.
Picayune’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Picayune is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #62 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Picayune’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,213, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Picayune could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where people from Picayune work
Where Picayune clocks in
7% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
From Picayune, about 32 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Picayune workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,351 commuters (the 6% 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.
What the 5,586 jobs in Picayune are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Picayune, 2013 → 2023: 5,503 → 5,586. 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 Picayune’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Picayune for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,248 residents head out to work, 977 work right here, and 4,609 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Picayune on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 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.
Half of Picayune commutes less than 23 miles
About 29% 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 Picayune gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Picayune is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #21 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Picayune 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 4,625 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). 4.3% of Picayune households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Picayune’s commuters take a bus or train.
Picayune and other U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | 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− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,498 | Alma MI | 9,304 | $53K | 21.7% | 6.9% | 24% | D |
| 2,499 | Slippery Rock Township PA | 8,349 | $57K | 23.4% | 7.1% | 6% | D |
| 2,500 | Picayune MS | 12,019 | $41K | 20.6% | 6.0% | 23% | D |
| 2,501 | East Liverpool OH | 9,569 | $34K | 32.9% | 5.9% | 14% | D |
| 2,502 | Lancaster SC | 9,623 | $46K | 21.2% | 9.6% | 16% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Picayune, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Work in the towns next to Picayune
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Picayune workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Picayune | – | D | B+ | 32 min | $41,213 |
| Nicholson | under 2% | D | B | 28 min | $50,114 |
| Hide-A-Way Lake | under 2% | C+ | D | 34 min | $69,621 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Picayune’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 Picayune: questions
What is the median household income in Picayune?
$41,213 (±$7,736) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Picayune?
20.6%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Picayune?
32 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Picayune work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Slidell (7%, 18 mi), New Orleans (4%, 37 mi), Hattiesburg (4%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Picayune walkable?
Picayune is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Picayune 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 Picayune, from the people who make the trip.
More of Picayune
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.