Hattiesburg vs Petal

A side-by-side comparison of Hattiesburg and Petal: population, income, housing, and more.

Hattiesburg and Petal are places in Mississippi. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Hattiesburg has the higher population (48,507 vs 11,195 in Petal). Petal has the higher median household income ($72,845 vs $44,140 in Hattiesburg). Petal has the higher median home value ($161,400 vs $153,600 in Hattiesburg).

Population, income & housing

	Hattiesburg	Petal
Population	48,507	11,195
Median age	28.7 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$44,140	$72,845
Median home value	$153,600	$161,400
Median gross rent	$995	$958
Housing units	22,941	4,282
Homeownership rate	36.5%	72.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.0%	29.1%
Unemployment rate	7.3%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hattiesburg	Petal
Population	46,098 → 48,507 (+5.2%)	10,584 → 11,195 (+5.8%)
Median household income	$34,735 → $44,140 (+27.1%)	$55,946 → $72,845 (+30.2%)
Median home value	$113,200 → $153,600 (+35.7%)	$141,600 → $161,400 (+14.0%)
Median gross rent	$791 → $995 (+25.8%)	$884 → $958 (+8.4%)

Hattiesburg

Population

46,09848,507

Median household income

$34,735$44,140

Median home value

$113,200$153,600

Median gross rent

$791$995

Petal

Population

10,58411,195

Median household income

$55,946$72,845

Median home value

$141,600$161,400

Median gross rent

$884$958

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hattiesburg	Petal
Under 5	6.4%	6.9%
5 to 17	13.6%	16.2%
18 to 24	22.3%	11.2%
25 to 34	18.2%	13.5%
35 to 44	9.7%	12.9%
45 to 54	8.0%	13.6%
55 to 64	9.4%	10.2%
65 to 74	6.6%	8.4%
75 and over	5.7%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hattiesburg	Petal
White (non-Hispanic)	38.8%	76.8%
Black or African American	51.1%	16.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.6%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hattiesburg	Petal
No high school diploma	9.4%	10.0%
High school graduate	24.1%	27.3%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	33.7%
Bachelor's degree	17.7%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	17.3%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hattiesburg	Petal
Drove alone	80.2%	83.7%
Carpooled	7.5%	10.1%
Public transit	0.7%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	0.5%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	4.5%	3.4%
Other means	3.7%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hattiesburg	Petal
1-unit, detached	50.1%	84.8%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	11.5%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	20.6%	2.3%
20 or more units	14.4%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	5.3%

Poverty & households

	Hattiesburg	Petal
Poverty rate	30.4%	13.3%
Average household size	2.20	2.94
Mean commute (minutes)	17	22
Median year structure built	1980	1975