Patterson, Walter, Filling Station · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Clinton’s household incomes are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in Clinton; the top destination outside it is Conway (6%, 35 miles). 20.0% of residents live below the poverty line, where Arkansas as a whole has 16.0%. Clinton grades D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Clinton: the figures worth knowing
Clinton is where the jobs are
Clinton has 1,874 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,700 people are in town, 48% more than the 2,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Clinton workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Clinton’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 16% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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; with 680 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Clinton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Clinton is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #111 of 123 in Arkansas. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Clinton’s grade.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Clinton’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, Clinton could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The daily commute in and out of Clinton
On a workday 446 residents head out to work, 234 work right here, and 1,640 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Clinton on a workday afternoon, 48% more than live here.
2.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Jobs in Clinton: what the 1,874 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clinton, 2013 → 2023: 2,032 → 1,874. 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 Clinton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Clinton’s workers come from
Where Clinton clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Clinton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clinton workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 928 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Clinton
About 24% 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.
For most of Clinton, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clinton is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns, #63 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Clinton 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 951 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). 11.8% of Clinton households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clinton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Clinton sits among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 226 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 340 | Salem AR | 2,642 | $74K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,678 | Selmont-West Selmont AL | 2,150 | $32K | 28.2% | 7.0% | 2% | D− |
| 4,679 | McGehee AR | 3,389 | $37K | 34.0% | 5.9% | 33% | D− |
| 4,680 | Clinton AR | 2,511 | $43K | 20.0% | 0.0% | 34% | D− |
| 4,681 | Claxton GA | 2,560 | $33K | 35.7% | 3.0% | 12% | D− |
| 4,682 | Lakeland GA | 3,062 | $31K | 44.1% | 0.8% | 15% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | 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 Clinton, 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 Clinton: questions
What is the median household income in Clinton?
$42,946 (±$16,716) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clinton?
20.0%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clinton?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clinton work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Conway (6%, 35 mi), Little Rock (4%, 59 mi), Fairfield Bay (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clinton walkable?
Clinton is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clinton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clinton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clinton
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.