Work means Jonesboro for more than half of Brookland’s working residents
Only 5% work in Brookland; the top destination outside it is Jonesboro (52%, 8 miles). Brookland grades C for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Measured by household income, Brookland is behind 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Brookland stands out on work
Jobs in Brookland have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Brookland went from 371 in 2013 to 846 in 2023, +128%. The jobs ↓
More than half of Brookland works in Jonesboro
942 working residents, 52%, have their main job in Jonesboro, 7.9 miles away. That’s 10 times as many as work in Brookland itself. The commute map ↓
Most Brookland residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Brookland are held by workers 29 or younger, against 26% of Brookland’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Brookland
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brookland is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #52 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Brookland’s grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($57,308, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brookland could be anywhere from D to A−.
Jobs in Brookland: what the 846 are
846 jobs are based in Brookland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brookland, 2013 → 2023: 371 → 846. 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 Brookland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The places Brookland commutes to
Where Brookland clocks in
52% of workers
8% 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.
Where in the region Brookland works
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.
Brookland on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,713 residents head out to work, 98 work right here, and 748 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Brookland on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.47 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.
From Brookland, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brookland workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,222 commuters (the 4% 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.
Few in Brookland walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brookland is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns, #96 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Brookland 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 2,310 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). 5.8% of Brookland households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brookland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,300, Brookland ranks 2,685th of 3,798 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Johnson AR | 3,684 | $96K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 210 | Austin AR | 4,017 | $114K | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 409 | Highfill AR | 3,676 | $93K | 4.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,683 | Newton Township OH | 5,225 | $68K | 8.7% | 6.9% | 5% | C |
| 2,684 | Ivanhoe CA | 4,629 | $52K | 17.9% | 3.6% | 6% | C |
| 2,685 | Brookland AR | 4,697 | $57K | 12.5% | 5.5% | 5% | C |
| 2,686 | California MO | 4,523 | $64K | 11.6% | 4.5% | 21% | C |
| 2,687 | Williamsport Township KS | 4,334 | $56K | 22.3% | 3.9% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,798 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Brookland, 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 Brookland: questions
What is the median household income in Brookland?
$57,308 (±$15,358) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brookland?
12.5%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brookland?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brookland work?
5% work in town.
Is Brookland walkable?
Brookland is more walkable than 22% 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 Brookland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brookland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brookland
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.