Photo: Fredlyfish4 · CC BY-SA 3.0A job hub: Tupelo has 2.5 jobs per working resident, and 30,942 people come in to work
More than half stay in Tupelo for work; outside it, Oxford is the main destination (2%, 46 miles). 39,291 jobs are based in Tupelo for 15,820 working residents. The two grades for Tupelo are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Tupelo, in brief
Tupelo is where the jobs are
Tupelo has 39,291 jobs, 2.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 62,000 people are in town, 62% more than the 38,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Tupelo draws workers from far and wide
The 39,291 jobs in Tupelo are filled from a wide area. Tupelo’s own residents hold 21% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Tupelo are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 61 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.
Where Tupelo’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tupelo is better than 35% of U.S. towns, #34 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Tupelo’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tupelo could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How a workday changes Tupelo
On a workday 7,471 residents head out to work and 8,349 work right here.
About 62,000 people are in Tupelo on a workday afternoon, 62% more than live here.
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 Tupelo’s workforce comes from
Where Tupelo clocks in
2% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
Tupelo’s commute takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tupelo workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,557 commuters (the 6% 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 kinds of work in Tupelo
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tupelo, 2013 → 2023: 40,741 → 39,291. 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 Tupelo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Tupelo goes to work
About 16% 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.
Few in Tupelo walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tupelo is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #39 of 101 in Mississippi. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 17,614 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). 8.4% of Tupelo households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Tupelo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tupelo places 906th of 1,096 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 27,000 to 51,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Madison MS | 28,575 | $119K | 4.8% | 2.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Olive Branch MS | 47,563 | $101K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 787 | Pearl MS | 28,864 | $62K | 12.2% | 4.3% | 14% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 904 | Sanger CA | 27,228 | $78K | 15.8% | 9.1% | 15% | C+ |
| 905 | Pekin IL | 31,277 | $61K | 12.8% | 6.1% | 20% | C+ |
| 906 | Tupelo MS | 38,087 | $66K | 15.1% | 5.2% | 53% | C+ |
| 907 | Fitchburg MA | 42,136 | $73K | 15.6% | 6.7% | 17% | C |
| 908 | Titusville FL | 49,800 | $66K | 11.3% | 5.0% | 21% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,096 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Tupelo, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Tupelo and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Saltillo. Darker towns draw more of Tupelo’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 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 Tupelo: questions
What is the median household income in Tupelo?
$66,257 (±$3,698) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tupelo?
15.1%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tupelo?
18 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tupelo work?
53% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oxford (2%, 46 mi), New Albany (2%, 22 mi), Pontotoc (2%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tupelo walkable?
Tupelo is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tupelo without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tupelo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tupelo
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.