Photo: Dofftoubab · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Rawls Springs earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 34 minutes on average; Mississippi averages 26, the U.S. 26. 7.3% of residents are in poverty, where Mississippi as a whole has 18.9%. Jobs and income earn Rawls Springs C+; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Rawls Springs
More than half of Rawls Springs works in Hattiesburg
221 working residents, 52%, have their main job in Hattiesburg, 6.7 miles away across the town line. That’s far more as work in Rawls Springs itself. The commute map ↓
Rawls Springs is a place people come home to
There are 56 jobs based in Rawls Springs, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Rawls Springs has about 1,100 people in it, 25% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Rawls Springs’ working residents have a job less than 7 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 34 minutes, longer than the Mississippi average of 26. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 425 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Rawls Springs’ grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Rawls Springs is better than 41% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Rawls Springs’ grade up (7.3%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($47,022, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (2.9%) is left out: Rawls Springs’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, Rawls Springs could be anywhere from C− to B+.
52% of working residents work in Hattiesburg
Where Rawls Springs clocks in
52% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Rawls Springs
On a workday 423 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 54 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Rawls Springs on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.13 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
A commute of about 34 minutes in Rawls Springs
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rawls Springs workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 648 commuters (the 10% 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.
Most jobs in Rawls Springs are in services
56 jobs are based in Rawls Springs.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rawls Springs, 2014 → 2024: 32 → 56. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rawls Springs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Rawls Springs commutes
About 20% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Rawls Springs gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rawls Springs is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns. 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 721 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). 4.5% of Rawls Springs households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rawls Springs’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Rawls Springs is 2,846th among 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,786 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,098 | Arnold Line MS | 1,859 | $54K | 16.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,175 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,844 | Scott Township OH | 1,334 | $76K | 11.7% | 10.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,845 | Thompson Township PA | 1,039 | $82K | 6.5% | 0.9% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,846 | Rawls Springs MS | 1,499 | $47K | 7.3% | 2.9% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,847 | Bent Creek NC | 1,384 | $72K | 15.6% | 12.5% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,848 | Kenyon MN | 1,885 | $83K | 13.6% | 4.8% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Rawls Springs, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Rawls Springs and its neighbors: 52% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rawls Springs workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rawls Springs | – | C+ | C− | 34 min | $47,022 |
| Hattiesburg | 52% | 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 Rawls Springs’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 2024, 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 Rawls Springs: questions
What is the median household income in Rawls Springs?
$47,022 (±$13,748) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rawls Springs?
7.3%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rawls Springs?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rawls Springs work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hattiesburg (52%, 7 mi), Laurel (4%, 25 mi), Petal (3%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Rawls Springs walkable?
Rawls Springs is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rawls Springs 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 Rawls Springs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rawls Springs
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.