Carlisle Rock Island Depot · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 4.0Carlisle’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Carlisle grades C− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 11.6% (Arkansas 16.0%). 17% of workers have no commute at all (Arkansas 9%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Carlisle, in brief
Carlisle’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Carlisle is Little Rock, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (113) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Carlisle workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 23 across Arkansas. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 115 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 702 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Carlisle’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Carlisle is better than 23% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Carlisle’s grade up (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,713, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Carlisle’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Carlisle could be anywhere from D to B.
The commute from Carlisle, by distance
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.
About 38 minutes to work from Carlisle
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carlisle workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 685 commuters (the 17% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Carlisle
On a workday 522 residents head out to work, 180 work right here, and 608 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.12 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in Little Rock
Where Carlisle clocks in
16% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Goods, not services: 29% of the jobs in Carlisle
788 jobs are based in Carlisle.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carlisle, 2013 → 2023: 735 → 788. 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 Carlisle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Carlisle walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carlisle is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Carlisle 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 826 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). 10.0% of Carlisle households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carlisle’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Carlisle is 3,824th among 5,509 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 221 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 335 | Salem AR | 2,642 | $74K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,822 | Monroe Township PA | 1,469 | $67K | 14.9% | 1.4% | 11% | C− |
| 3,823 | Lake Brownwood TX | 1,544 | $70K | 12.2% | 7.3% | 3% | C− |
| 3,824 | Carlisle AR | 1,982 | $42K | 11.6% | 4.6% | 26% | C− |
| 3,825 | Cambridge IL | 2,020 | $65K | 13.1% | 7.5% | 12% | C− |
| 3,826 | Northwood IA | 2,056 | $63K | 8.8% | 7.9% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Carlisle, 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 Carlisle: questions
What is the median household income in Carlisle?
$41,713 (±$15,643) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carlisle?
11.6%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carlisle?
38 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carlisle work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Little Rock (16%, 35 mi), North Little Rock (6%, 28 mi), Lonoke (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carlisle walkable?
Carlisle is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carlisle without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carlisle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carlisle
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.