Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) · CC BY 3.0Bono has higher unemployment (10.8%) than 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Bono D; getting around on foot earns it C−. Measured by household income, Bono is behind 80% of U.S. towns. Only 3% stay in Bono for work; outside it, Jonesboro is the main destination (60%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Bono stands out on work
More than half of Bono works in Jonesboro
578 working residents, 60%, have their main job in Jonesboro, 9.3 miles away. That’s 20 times as many as work in Bono itself. The commute map ↓
Bono is a place people come home to
There are 220 jobs based in Bono, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Bono has about 2,100 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Bono workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 28 minutes each way, against 23 across Arkansas. Over a year that’s about 215 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 963 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Bono’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bono is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #79 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Bono’s grade up (ahead of 51% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bono could be anywhere from D to B−.
Where Bono goes to work
Where Bono clocks in
60% of workers
3% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Who leaves Bono for work, and who comes in
On a workday 936 residents head out to work, 27 work right here, and 193 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Bono on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.23 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Bono
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bono workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,137 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Arkansas: 87% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
What Bono’s employers do
220 jobs are based in Bono.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bono, 2013 → 2023: 113 → 220. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bono’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Bono
About 16% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Bono, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bono is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns, #106 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Bono near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,224 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.9% of Bono households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bono’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Bono is 4,088th among 4,882 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Johnson AR | 3,684 | $96K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 252 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 369 | Salem AR | 2,642 | $74K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,086 | Grissom AFB IN | 2,977 | $55K | 14.4% | 7.5% | 5% | D |
| 4,087 | Harbor OR | 2,437 | $55K | 10.8% | 3.5% | 18% | D |
| 4,088 | Bono AR | 2,858 | $56K | 17.1% | 10.8% | 3% | D |
| 4,089 | Arthur IL | 2,261 | $55K | 19.2% | 6.3% | 23% | D |
| 4,090 | Muldrow OK | 3,375 | $45K | 19.2% | 6.2% | 9% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bono, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bono: questions
What is the median household income in Bono?
$56,098 (±$12,318) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bono?
17.1%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bono?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bono work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jonesboro (60%, 9 mi), Paragould (3%, 19 mi), Walnut Ridge (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bono walkable?
Bono is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bono without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bono, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bono
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.