Caraway’s household incomes are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Hardly any stay in Caraway for work; outside it, Jonesboro is the main destination (27%, 20 miles). Poverty touches 19.5% of residents, next to 16.0% for Arkansas as a whole. Caraway grades D for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Caraway, in brief
The figures behind Caraway’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Caraway is better than 7% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Caraway’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($38,558, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Caraway’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Caraway could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The daily commute in and out of Caraway
On a workday 367 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 26 people come in from elsewhere.
About 760 people are in Caraway on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
0.08 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.
The towns that employ Caraway’s residents
Where Caraway clocks in
27% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
What the 29 jobs in Caraway are
29 jobs are based in Caraway.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Caraway, 2013 → 2023: 93 → 29. 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 Caraway’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Caraway
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Caraway workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 460 commuters (the 2% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Caraway
About 22% 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.
The commute in Caraway is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Caraway is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Caraway 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 471 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). 10.8% of Caraway households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Caraway’s commuters take a bus or train.
Caraway is 3,292nd of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Roland AR | 1,147 | $175K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 315 | Wooster AR | 1,150 | $112K | 5.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,006 | Redfield AR | 1,492 | $72K | 8.3% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,290 | Claypool AZ | 1,259 | $58K | 21.8% | 12.0% | 6% | D |
| 3,291 | Congress AZ | 1,491 | $57K | 16.0% | 0.0% | 3% | D |
| 3,292 | Caraway AR | 1,104 | $39K | 19.5% | 3.3% | 1% | D |
| 3,293 | Standish MI | 1,449 | $35K | 20.1% | 8.5% | 16% | D |
| 3,294 | Rock Port MO | 1,246 | $46K | 13.7% | 1.0% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Caraway, 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 Caraway: questions
What is the median household income in Caraway?
$38,558 (±$10,001) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Caraway?
19.5%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Caraway?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Caraway work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jonesboro (27%, 20 mi), Monette (6%, 9 mi), Manila (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Caraway walkable?
Caraway is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Caraway without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Caraway, from the people who make the trip.
More of Caraway
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.