Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0Vardaman’s household incomes are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Only 5% work in Vardaman itself; outside it, Houston draws the most (11%, 10 miles). 44.2% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 18.9% for Mississippi as a whole. Jobs and income earn Vardaman D−; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Vardaman and work: the main findings
Fewer jobs are based in Vardaman than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Vardaman fell from 340 in 2013 to 206 in 2023, −39%. 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 ↓
Vardaman workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 26 across Mississippi. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 69 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 468 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Vardaman’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Vardaman is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Vardaman’s grade.
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Vardaman’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, Vardaman stays D−.
What Vardaman’s employers do
206 jobs are based in Vardaman.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vardaman, 2013 → 2023: 340 → 206. 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 Vardaman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Vardaman: about 35 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vardaman workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 422 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.
Who commutes out of Vardaman, and who commutes in
On a workday 443 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 181 people come in from elsewhere.
About 800 people are in Vardaman on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.44 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.
Out of Vardaman to work: where people go
Where Vardaman clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Vardaman
About 22% 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.
Vardaman is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vardaman is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Vardaman 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 429 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). 3.1% of Vardaman households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Vardaman’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, and where Vardaman sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 999 | Columbus AFB MS | 1,293 | $70K | 6.3% | 1.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,160 | Hurley MS | 1,305 | $133K | 12.6% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,242 | Robinhood MS | 1,298 | $70K | 14.1% | 5.1% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,067 | Maricopa CA | 1,018 | $39K | 22.4% | 13.0% | 9% | D− |
| 3,068 | Olla LA | 1,325 | $30K | 26.8% | 11.7% | 6% | D− |
| 3,069 | Vardaman MS | 1,060 | $38K | 44.2% | 2.8% | 5% | D− |
| 3,070 | Robert Lee TX | 1,061 | $34K | 27.0% | 3.1% | 26% | D− |
| 3,071 | Wendover UT | 1,135 | $44K | 26.0% | 2.7% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Vardaman, 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 Vardaman: questions
What is the median household income in Vardaman?
$38,456 (±$8,977) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vardaman?
44.2%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vardaman?
35 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vardaman work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Houston (11%, 10 mi), Bruce (6%, 12 mi), Tupelo (4%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vardaman walkable?
Vardaman is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vardaman 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 Vardaman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vardaman
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.