Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0Winona has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
For jobs and income Winona is better than 3% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (A−). Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 32.1% of residents, next to 18.9% for Mississippi as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Winona, in a few figures
Winona trades workers with the towns around it
Winona has about as many jobs (1,637) as working residents (1,715), but they are mostly different people: 1,295 residents leave for work each day while 1,217 people come in. Only 26% of the jobs in Winona are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Winona 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Winona workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Winona’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Winona than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Winona fell from 2,241 in 2013 to 1,637 in 2023, −27%. 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 ↓
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.
What’s behind Winona’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Winona’s grade up (6.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($31,932, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winona could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How a workday changes Winona
On a workday 1,295 residents head out to work, 420 work right here, and 1,217 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 (0.95 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.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Mississippi
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winona workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,482 commuters (the 5% 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.
Jobs in Winona: what the 1,637 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winona, 2013 → 2023: 2,241 → 1,637. 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 Winona’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Winona to work
About 35% 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.
12% of working residents work in Grenada
Where Winona clocks in
12% of workers
8% of workers
3% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Winona
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 1.8% across Mississippi, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,555 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). 12.8% of Winona households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Winona’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,100, and where Winona sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 589 | Bridgetown MS | 3,195 | $139K | 1.0% | 5.8% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 942 | Gluckstadt MS | 3,500 | $124K | 5.3% | 5.4% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,004 | New Hope MS | 3,952 | $80K | 2.9% | 1.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,026 | Brent AL | 4,414 | $23K | 50.8% | 26.6% | 10% | D− |
| 4,027 | Millen GA | 2,952 | $42K | 29.9% | 6.5% | 22% | D− |
| 4,028 | Winona MS | 3,795 | $32K | 32.1% | 6.6% | 24% | D− |
| 4,029 | Middleport Township IL | 3,603 | $40K | 27.6% | 7.6% | 20% | D− |
| 4,030 | Bisbee AZ | 4,860 | $48K | 15.2% | 13.6% | 29% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,153 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Winona, 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 Winona: questions
What is the median household income in Winona?
$31,932 (±$12,892) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winona?
32.1%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winona?
18 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winona work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grenada (12%, 21 mi), Greenwood (8%, 27 mi), Jackson (3%, 86 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winona walkable?
Winona is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winona without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Winona, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winona
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.