Where Scooba earns its living
Only 4% stay in Scooba for work; outside it, Meridian is the main destination (21%, 33 miles). The trip to work takes 22 minutes on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. Scooba has 202 jobs for 253 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Scooba
Scooba’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Scooba is Meridian, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (52) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Scooba than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Scooba fell from 366 in 2013 to 202 in 2023, −45%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 253 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How far Scooba goes to work
About 26% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Scooba
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Scooba, 2013 → 2023: 366 → 202. 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 Scooba’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 244 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 193 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 (0.80 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.
Where Scooba goes to work
Where Scooba clocks in
21% 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.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Mississippi
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Scooba workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 221 commuters (the 2% 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 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 Scooba: questions
What is the poverty rate in Scooba?
48.9%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Scooba?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Scooba work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Meridian (21%, 33 mi), De Kalb (19%, 11 mi), Jackson (4%, 107 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Scooba without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Scooba, from the people who make the trip.
More of Scooba
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.