Laurel is a medium-sized city located in the state of Mississippi. With a population of 17,066 people and 11 associated neighborhoods, Laurel is the 23rd largest community in Mississippi.Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, Laurel is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 38.22% of the Laurel workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, Laurel is a city of service providers, sales and office workers, and production and manufacturing workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Laurel who work in sales jobs (12.92%), food service (8.95%), and maintenance occupations (7.03%). Being a small city, Laurel does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.The citizens of Laurel are slightly better educated than the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns, with 21.88% of adults in Laurel having a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Laurel in 2022 was $25,148, which is middle income relative to Mississippi, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $100,592 for a family of four. However, Laurel contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Laurel also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 32.56% of its population below the federal poverty line.Laurel is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Laurel home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Laurel residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Laurel include English, Irish, German, African, and French. The most common language spoken in Laurel is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
