Cleveland, Mississippi

Area Profile

10,623 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Cleveland, in Bolivar County.

43out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 3% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3713th of 3,904 cities measured28
Schools2391st of 2,668 cities measured20
Growth2093rd of 2,973 cities measured38
Housing affordability2452nd of 4,223 cities measured75
ClimateTop 40% of 4,223 cities measured72
Physical resilience3232nd of 4,182 cities measured29
Access2628th of 4,226 cities measured88
Economic stability4132nd of 4,226 cities measured22
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.5% and the Opportunity signal places Cleveland in the bottom 5%.

In the public schools here, 10% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.9 students for every teacher.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and tornado.

At a glance

Population
10,623
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$44,074
Bottom 15% nationally
Density
1,402/sq mi
7.6 sq mi of land
Median age
35.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Bolivar County
Mississippi
Metro area
Cleveland, MS
Nearest major airport
GLH
23 mi · Greenville Mid-Delta
Median home value
$159,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.5% is lower than 13% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.0% over the past year, to 10,106 employed residents.

35% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 76% of measured US cities.

Median household income of $44,074 is below 85% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,310$44,074Bottom 15%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,168$24,650Bottom 19%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate29.3%Top 11%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.8 minBottom 14%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher34.8%Top 24%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment10,106Bottom 3%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.6%Bottom 41%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.0%Bottom 18%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force10,690Bottom 3%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation49.4%Bottom 21%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 21%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate5.5%Top 13%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202444k38k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $44,074 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Bolivar County, MS, which contains this city.

10% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 20% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
10.3%
Bottom 15% in Mississippi
Reading proficiency
20.2%
Bottom 15% in Mississippi
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Cleveland Central High SchoolCleveland School District79917.8
Cleveland Central Middle SchoolCleveland School District42316.917%22%
Parks Elementary SchoolCleveland School District26516.610%24%
Nailor Elementary SchoolCleveland School District25619.7
D.M. Smith ElementaryCleveland School District23312.93%12%
Pearman Elementary SchoolCleveland School District18616.95%21%
ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLCleveland School District0
CLEVELAND VOC TECH COMPLEXCleveland School District0

99.8% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Mississippi’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $943 takes 26% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
25.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$943
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$159,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.61Top 34%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate66.8%Bottom 32%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2854,904Top 12%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$117$943Bottom 47%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,724$159,300Bottom 41%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.7%Top 15%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate12.7%Top 41%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
38/ 100
Ranks 2093 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 9% since 2020, reaching 10,183 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
11
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.0
Bottom 32% nationally
Year over year
+10%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202411k10k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20202022202320242025133.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+300%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 35°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 49.0 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GREENVILLE ASOS, 23.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation49.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low35°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing38°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

29 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and tornado.

EarthquakeElevated
DroughtModerate
TornadoHigh
Ice stormModerate
Inland floodingElevated
HurricaneModerate
Strong windModerate
Cold waveModerate
LightningModerate
LandslideModerate
Winter weatherModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, hail, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Bolivar County records 16.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.5 per 100,000 residents in Bolivar County.

Homicide
16.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Bolivar County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Cleveland rather than Cleveland itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 23 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Greenville Mid-DeltaGLH23 mi8,001 ft
Tunica MuniUTA69 mi8,500 ft
Frederick W Smith Intl/MemphisMEM99 mi11,120 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
43
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Cleveland

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3873216,696$44,70545