Okolona is a very small city located in the state of Mississippi. With a population of 2,443 people and just one neighborhood, Okolona is the 107th largest community in Mississippi.
When you are in Okolona, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 36.00% of Okolona’s employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 27.7% that do. Overall, Okolona is a city of service providers, production and manufacturing workers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Okolona who work in healthcare suport services (15.02%), food service (8.46%), and sales jobs (7.87%).
Being a small city, Okolona does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
In Okolona, just 9.43% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 21.84%.
The per capita income in Okolona in 2022 was $18,708, which is lower middle income relative to Mississippi, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $74,832 for a family of four. Okolona also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 36.37% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Okolona is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Okolona home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Okolona residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Okolona include English, African, Irish, German, and Scots-Irish.
The most common language spoken in Okolona is English. Other important languages spoken here include German/Yiddish and Greek.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Okolona, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
While most Americans do drive to work alone each day, the neighborhood stands out by having 91.4% of commuters doing so, which is a higher proportion of people driving alone to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.7% of all American neighborhoods.
More people work in manufacturing and as laborers here in the neighborhood than in 97.5% of the neighborhoods in America. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs across the nation, this neighborhood remains a place where, compared to other parts of the country, you will find many laborers and manufacturers.
Single parenting is hard. But you don't have to tell the neighborhood about it; they already know. 20.4% of this neighborhood's households are run by single mothers, which is a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.2% of American neighborhoods. Further NeighborhoodScout research showed strong statistical correlations among high rates of children living in single parent households, and neighborhood crime, particularly violent crime, neighborhood poverty, and, importantly, the percentage of low weight births and rates of infant mortality.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Okolona are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 94.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 49.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 93.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the neighborhood, 45.7% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 19.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (19.0%), and 15.5% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 100.0% of households.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Okolona, MS, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (2.2%). There are also a number of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (1.9%), and residents who report African roots (1.9%).
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (41.3% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (91.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (5.5%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.