City · Leake County, Mississippi

Carthage, Mississippi

Carthage is a city in Leake County, Mississippi. It has 4,866 residents. Carthage, Mississippi has a quality-of-life score of 1 out of 100 (very low), ranking #15,453 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Mississippi it ranks #171 of 194 cities and towns. It ranks best on time spent in the emergency room (low), pharmacies (high) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on mental health providers (low), average weekly wage (low) and child poverty rate (high).

1Very low

Quality-of-life score: #15,453 of 15,651 cities and towns
Mississippi: #171 of 194 in MS
Population: 4,866 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 523.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 2811780

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety13#13,601/15,637
Economy3#15,109/15,631
Housing38#9,319/14,977
Health13#13,635/15,609
Healthcare6#14,728/15,650
Environment35#9,990/15,453
Education11#13,974/15,649
Infrastructure7#14,559/15,650
Community9#14,294/15,651
Leisure & amenities1#15,499/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Carthage, Mississippi ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Leake County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Time spent in the emergency room · low94 min
98/100Mississippi 138 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLeake County value
Pharmacies · high2.8 /10k
94/100Mississippi 2.2 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLeake County value
Social associations · high15.1 /10k
91/100Mississippi 12.6 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLeake County value
Public transit commuters · high3.8%
90/100Mississippi 0.3%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301High uncertainty
Depression · low19.3%
86/100Mississippi 20.1%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Property crime rate · low644 /100k
80/100Mississippi 1,264 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureLeake County value

Weaknesses

Mental health providers · low9 /100k
0/100Mississippi 243 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLeake County value
Average weekly wage · low$805
1/100Mississippi $1,024United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLeake County value
Child poverty rate · high50.5%
1/100Mississippi 25.0%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Homicide rate · high19.7 /100k
1/100Mississippi 14.6 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataLeake County value
Primary care shortage · high20.0
1/100Mississippi 16.2United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLeake County value
Physical inactivity · high41.8%
2/100Mississippi 35.7%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
15.6% (2015-2019) → 32.4% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Child poverty rateImproving
64.8% (2015-2019) → 50.5% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
32.2% (2015-2019) → 45.4% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
High school diploma or higherImproving
78.6% (2015-2019) → 87.9% (2020-2024)
+9.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Poverty rateImproving
37.8% (2015-2019) → 29.7% (2020-2024)
−8.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Average commute timeWorsening
21.4 min (2015-2019) → 29.6 min (2020-2024)
+38%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Carthage, Mississippi improved on 0 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 13 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined1

Uninsured+17 points15.6% → 32.4%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Carthage, Mississippi between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	21.4 min2015-2019	29.6 min2020-2024	+8.2 min	Within the margin of error	4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.0%2015-2019	19.6%2020-2024	+3.7 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Broadband subscriptions	74.0%2015-2019	74.3%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	9%
Child poverty rate	64.8%2015-2019	50.5%2020-2024	−14 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Effective property tax rate	0.54%2015-2019	0.78%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	2%
High school diploma or higher	78.6%2015-2019	87.9%2020-2024	+9.3 points	Within the margin of error	94%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.7×2020-2024	+0.6×	Within the margin of error	39%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4602015-2019	0.4422020-2024	−0.018	Within the margin of error	66%
Median household income	$40,8592015-2019	$42,2542020-2024	+3.4%	Within the margin of error	10%
Poverty rate	37.8%2015-2019	29.7%2020-2024	−8.1 points	Within the margin of error	89%
Rent as share of income	26.9%2015-2019	28.4%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Rent-burdened households	32.2%2015-2019	45.4%2020-2024	+13 points	Within the margin of error	17%
Unemployment rate	7.0%2015-2019	7.8%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	15.6%2015-2019	32.4%2020-2024	+17 points	Declined	1%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Carthage, Mississippi five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Carthage, Mississippi in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Carthage, Mississippi itself moved −11.6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

4,866 residents (±17)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,458 households (±149)

Carthage, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Under $25k36%†532
$25k–50k19%†276
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,458 households (±149)

Carthage, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Own65%953
Rent35%505

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Rent (−13.1 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,569 workers (±344)

Carthage, Mississippi
Mississippi share

Drive alone62%979
Carpool8.2%†129
Public transit3.8%†59

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Leake County, the county holding most of Carthage's residents.

Leake County has 320 employer establishments, 150 for every 10,000 residents (0.60× the US rate of 248; 0.73× Mississippi's), with 5,160 paid employees at an average annual pay of $34,896. The Census Bureau also counts 1,678 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 320; 1,678 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 150; US 248 · Mississippi 205
Paid employees: 5,160
Average annual pay: $34,896; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Leake County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Religious organizations	29	13.6	2.45×More than typical	92	$20,750	—
Restaurants and other eating places	24	11.3	0.61×Fewer than typical	449	$11,702	12
Ambulatory health care services	22	10.3	0.50×Fewer than typical	324	$52,614	72
Limited-service restaurants	16	7.5	0.94×About typical	369	$11,019	4
Specialty trade contractors	13	6.1	0.39×Fewer than typical	41	$46,220	202
Truck transportation	12	5.6	1.11×About typical	66	$47,303	114
Gasoline stations	11	5.2	1.59×More than typical	100	$27,440	—
Health and personal care stores	10	4.7	1.77×More than typical	62	$54,258	14
Auto parts, accessories and tire stores	9	4.2	2.42×Too few to compare	70	$31,986	—
General merchandise stores	9	4.2	2.39×Too few to compare	238	$28,454	7
Insurance agencies and brokerages	9	4.2	0.96×Too few to compare	25	$55,640	25
Management, scientific and technical consulting	9	4.2	0.63×Too few to compare	19	$53,368	18

Rank places for an industry Open Leake County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 21,322 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $134.7K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Carthage, Mississippi: $27.69 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $134.7K; +62,867% vs FY2025
Per resident: $27.69; US $1,995
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 26%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Agricultural Marketing Service$134.7K100%

Top recipients

TYSON FOODS INC.$134.7K100%
ADSYNC TECHNOLOGIES, INC.$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

57FY2017
20.1KFY2023
115.1KFY2024
214FY2025
134.7KFY2026

What was bought

Other equipment & supplies$134.7K100%

Top industries (NAICS)

Animal slaughtering and processing · 3116$134.7K100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Carthage, Mississippi, so they do not add up across cities.

Carthage, Mississippi's figures are part of those of Leake County, MS ($5.7M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.4% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Carthage is mostly in Leake County.

See federal money in Leake County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Carthage, Mississippi is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Bennie G. ThompsonD-MS-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 3.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Leake County6100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Leake County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2811780

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends