Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Ruleville trail those of 98% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Ruleville for work; outside it, Cleveland is the main destination (16%, 10 miles). Poverty touches 33.9% of residents; Mississippi has 18.9%. For jobs and income Ruleville is better than 2% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Ruleville
Ruleville and Cleveland trade workers both ways
Cleveland is the top workplace for Ruleville residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Ruleville come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Ruleville workers earn over $40,000 a year
36% of Ruleville’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 17% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Ruleville are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Mississippi 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 888 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Ruleville
Job access by car holds Ruleville’s grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (19.9%, U.S. 5.2%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ruleville stays D−.
Where Ruleville goes to work
Where Ruleville clocks in
16% of workers
8% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Ruleville
960 jobs are based in Ruleville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ruleville, 2013 → 2023: 1,044 → 960. 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 Ruleville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Ruleville spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ruleville workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 897 commuters (the 3% 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.
Who leaves Ruleville for work, and who comes in
On a workday 741 residents head out to work, 147 work right here, and 813 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 (1.08 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.
Ruleville’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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.
Most of Ruleville commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 922 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). 9.2% of Ruleville households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ruleville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Ruleville sits among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,785 | Guntown MS | 2,616 | $96K | 9.8% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,859 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,871 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,193 | Lineville AL | 2,473 | $38K | 32.4% | 4.7% | 11% | D− |
| 5,194 | Harlan KY | 1,822 | $32K | 33.1% | 12.0% | 17% | D− |
| 5,195 | Ruleville MS | 2,278 | $33K | 33.9% | 19.9% | 17% | D− |
| 5,196 | Eufaula OK | 2,882 | $37K | 29.3% | 2.8% | 23% | D− |
| 5,197 | Premont TX | 2,401 | $48K | 27.9% | 14.8% | 12% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | 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 Ruleville, 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 Ruleville: questions
What is the median household income in Ruleville?
$33,480 (±$8,558) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ruleville?
33.9%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ruleville?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ruleville work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (16%, 10 mi), Indianola (8%, 20 mi), Greenwood (3%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ruleville walkable?
Ruleville is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ruleville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ruleville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ruleville
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.