Photo: The diva777 · Public domainHouseholds in Purvis earn less than those in 92% of U.S. towns
22.8% of residents are in poverty (Mississippi 18.9%). Purvis grades D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in ten stay in Purvis for work; outside it, Hattiesburg is the main destination (39%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Purvis, in brief
Purvis is where the jobs are
Purvis has 1,952 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,200 people are in town, 65% more than the 2,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
39% of Purvis works in Hattiesburg
263 working residents, 39%, have their main job in Hattiesburg, 12 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Purvis itself. The commute map ↓
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 680 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Purvis gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Purvis is better than 7% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Purvis’ grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($45,667, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Purvis’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Purvis could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Who commutes out of Purvis, and who commutes in
On a workday 600 residents head out to work, 80 work right here, and 1,872 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,200 people are in Purvis on a workday afternoon, 65% more than live here.
2.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Commuting in to Purvis: where workers come from
Where Purvis clocks in
39% of workers
3% 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.
What Purvis’ employers do
1,952 jobs are based in Purvis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Purvis, 2013 → 2023: 1,955 → 1,952. 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 Purvis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Purvis, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Purvis workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 758 commuters (the 1% 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 commute from Purvis, by distance
About 15% 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 Purvis gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Purvis is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of 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 764 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). 7.3% of Purvis households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Purvis’ commuters take a bus or train.
Purvis is 4,870th of 5,509 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,735 | Guntown MS | 2,616 | $96K | 9.8% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,808 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,821 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Mohave Valley AZ | 2,555 | $60K | 14.8% | 9.3% | 4% | D |
| 4,869 | Claypool Hill VA | 1,610 | $45K | 15.5% | 1.4% | 5% | D |
| 4,870 | Purvis MS | 1,969 | $46K | 22.8% | 1.8% | 12% | D |
| 4,871 | Orwell OH | 1,499 | $42K | 27.4% | 6.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,872 | Warner OK | 1,587 | $55K | 19.8% | 5.8% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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 Purvis, 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 Purvis: questions
What is the median household income in Purvis?
$45,667 (±$10,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Purvis?
22.8%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Purvis?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Purvis work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hattiesburg (39%, 12 mi), Laurel (3%, 40 mi), Columbia (2%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Purvis walkable?
Purvis is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Purvis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Purvis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Purvis
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.