Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Shelby are among the lowest of any U.S. town
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Below the poverty line: 55.6% of residents (Mississippi 18.9%). Jobs and income earn Shelby D−; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Shelby, in brief
Shelby is a place people come home to
There are 104 jobs based in Shelby, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Shelby workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 26 across Mississippi. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical 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 433 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Shelby
On income, poverty and job access, Shelby is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Shelby’s grade.
Unemployment (13.4%) is left out: Shelby’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, Shelby stays D−.
Shelby on a workday afternoon
On a workday 425 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 96 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Shelby on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.24 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.
How far Shelby goes to work
About 36% 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.
Shelby’s commute takes about 37 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shelby workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 253 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.
21% of working residents work in Cleveland
Where Shelby clocks in
21% of workers
11% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Shelby: what the 104 are
104 jobs are based in Shelby.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shelby, 2013 → 2023: 170 → 104. 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 Shelby’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Shelby gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shelby is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Shelby 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 253 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). 10.2% of Shelby households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shelby’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Shelby compares with U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,677 | Lynchburg MS | 2,161 | $89K | 7.1% | 10.2% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,690 | DeLisle MS | 1,906 | $72K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,722 | Sumrall MS | 2,299 | $70K | 4.4% | 6.9% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,266 | Jenkins KY | 1,733 | $27K | 32.3% | 6.0% | 6% | D− |
| 5,267 | Evart MI | 1,789 | $34K | 35.1% | 4.8% | 32% | D− |
| 5,268 | Shelby MS | 1,788 | $26K | 55.6% | 13.4% | 2% | D− |
| 5,269 | Thayer MO | 1,898 | $37K | 34.3% | 4.8% | 22% | D− |
| 5,270 | Lordsburg NM | 2,181 | $37K | 23.5% | 4.6% | 42% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Shelby, 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 Shelby: questions
What is the median household income in Shelby?
$25,948 (±$12,934) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shelby?
55.6%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shelby?
37 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shelby work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (21%, 14 mi), Clarksdale (11%, 20 mi), Mound Bayou (6%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shelby walkable?
Shelby is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shelby without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shelby, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shelby
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.