Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Shaw’s
Jobs and income earn Shaw D−; getting around on foot earns it D. Measured by household income, Shaw is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The poverty rate is 37.5% (Mississippi 18.9%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Shaw stands out on work
The four measures behind Shaw’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Shaw is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Shaw’s grade up (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($30,469, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (8.7%) is left out: Shaw’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Shaw stays D−.
In and out of Shaw on a workday
On a workday 357 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 90 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Shaw on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.28 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 2023, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Cleveland
Where Shaw clocks in
19% of workers
11% of workers
5% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
103 jobs are based in Shaw.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shaw, 2013 → 2023: 226 → 103. 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 Shaw’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Shaw: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shaw workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 555 commuters (the 0% 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 Shaw, by distance
About 29% 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.
The commute in Shaw is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shaw is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Shaw near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 555 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). 11.2% of Shaw households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shaw’s commuters take a bus or train.
Shaw next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,835 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,104 | Hurley MS | 1,305 | $133K | 12.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,239 | Robinhood MS | 1,298 | $70K | 14.1% | 5.1% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,214 | Marion Township OH | 1,481 | $35K | 32.7% | 3.3% | 1% | D− |
| 5,215 | Clinton KY | 1,177 | $34K | 30.0% | 7.8% | 17% | D− |
| 5,216 | Shaw MS | 1,337 | $30K | 37.5% | 8.7% | 4% | D− |
| 5,217 | Charleston MS | 1,688 | $37K | 27.1% | 12.7% | 24% | D− |
| 5,218 | Port Gibson MS | 1,155 | $43K | 39.0% | 15.6% | 23% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Shaw, 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 Shaw: questions
What is the median household income in Shaw?
$30,469 (±$10,747) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shaw?
37.5%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shaw?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shaw work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (19%, 10 mi), Greenville (11%, 22 mi), Jackson (5%, 95 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shaw walkable?
Shaw is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shaw without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shaw, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shaw
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.