Laurel is a medium-sized city located in the state of Mississippi. With a population of 17,508 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. 41.25% 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, production and manufacturing workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Laurel who work in food service (7.58%), sales jobs (7.33%), and maintenance occupations (6.75%). Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Laurel spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 18.59 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be. Laurel is a small city, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.The population of Laurel overall has a level of education that is slightly above the US average for all US cities and towns of 21.84%. Of adults 25 and older in Laurel, 21.83% have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Laurel in 2022 was $30,835, which is upper middle income relative to Mississippi, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $123,340 for a family of four. However, Laurel contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. 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, African, German, and Italian. The most common language spoken in Laurel is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
