Lyceum-The Circle Historic District · Photo: The original uploader was Enjoybeta at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.0Making a living in University
Home is the office for 14% of workers (Mississippi 6%). University grades A− for walkability. Only 1% work in University; the top destination outside it is Oxford (32%, 1 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
University at work: what stands out
Fewer jobs are based in University than ten years ago
Jobs counted in University fell from 3,571 in 2013 to 566 in 2023, −84%. 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 ↓
A big share show a job far from home
46% 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 ↓
Commutes from University are quick
The average trip to work takes 9 minutes, against 26 across Mississippi. That’s about 130 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 610 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What work there is in University: 566 jobs
566 jobs are based in University.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in University, 2013 → 2023: 3,571 → 566. 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 University’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region University works
About 46% 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.
A commute of about 9 minutes in University
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of University workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 808 commuters (the 14% 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 daily flow of workers through University
On a workday 602 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 558 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 (0.93 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 people from University work
Where University clocks in
32% of workers
7% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: University
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, University is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #6 of 101 in Mississippi. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 32.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 1.8% across Mississippi, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 936 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.
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 University: questions
How long is the commute from University?
9 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in University work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oxford (32%, 1 mi), Memphis (7%, 57 mi), Jackson (4%, 147 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is University walkable?
University is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 33% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from University, from the people who make the trip.
More of University
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.