Most of Pickens commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
Home is the office for 13% of workers (Mississippi 6%). Employers in Pickens report 25 jobs, and 203 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Pickens itself; outside it, Jackson draws the most (10%, 42 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Pickens and work: the main findings
Pickens’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pickens is Jackson, 42 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (20) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Pickens is a place people come home to
There are 25 jobs based in Pickens, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Pickens 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 ↓
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 203 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Pickens
About 27% 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.
Pickens quiets down on a workday
On a workday 201 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 23 people come in from elsewhere.
About 630 people are in Pickens on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 32 minutes in Pickens
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pickens workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 238 commuters (the 13% 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.
The towns that employ Pickens’ residents
Where Pickens clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
Pickens makes things: 44% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pickens, 2013 → 2023: 81 → 25. 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 Pickens’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Pickens: questions
What is the median household income in Pickens?
$30,036 (±$10,480) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pickens?
34.5%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pickens?
32 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pickens work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (10%, 42 mi), Canton (6%, 21 mi), Ridgeland (4%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Pickens without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pickens, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pickens
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.