Photo: Ronny Willhite · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Conway earn less than those in 69% of U.S. towns
About two in five stay in Conway for work; outside it, Little Rock is the main destination (22%, 25 miles). 16.9% of residents live below the poverty line, against 16.0% across Arkansas. The two grades for Conway are C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Conway in brief
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Conway
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Conway is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #42 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Conway’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Conway could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Conway
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.
How many people are in Conway by day
On a workday 15,846 residents head out to work, 11,030 work right here, and 23,076 people come in from elsewhere.
About 80,000 people are in Conway on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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.
Where the trip to work from Conway ends
Where Conway clocks in
22% 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 Conway’s employers do
34,106 jobs are based in Conway.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Conway, 2013 → 2023: 33,022 → 34,106. 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 Conway’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Conway takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Conway workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 30,398 commuters (the 10% 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.
Getting around Conway: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Conway is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #25 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Conway 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 33,738 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). 5.7% of Conway households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Conway’s commuters take a bus or train.
Conway next to U.S. towns of 51,000 to 98,000: 441st of 599 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Bentonville AR | 63,057 | $113K | 5.2% | 3.1% | 43% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 229 | Rogers AR | 76,956 | $87K | 10.5% | 2.5% | 28% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 387 | Springdale AR | 90,685 | $70K | 13.4% | 3.7% | 36% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 439 | Highland CA | 57,614 | $77K | 17.1% | 6.2% | 3% | C+ |
| 440 | West Haven CT | 55,351 | $74K | 14.1% | 7.3% | 13% | C+ |
| 441 | Conway AR | 72,328 | $63K | 16.9% | 3.6% | 41% | C+ |
| 442 | Penn Township IN | 68,726 | $66K | 12.5% | 5.3% | 20% | C+ |
| 443 | Turlock CA | 72,864 | $83K | 11.3% | 8.4% | 25% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 599 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Conway, 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 Conway: questions
What is the median household income in Conway?
$63,004 (±$3,569) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Conway?
16.9%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Conway?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Conway work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Little Rock (22%, 25 mi), North Little Rock (5%, 24 mi), Maumelle (2%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Conway walkable?
Conway is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Conway without a car?
<1% 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 Conway, from the people who make the trip.
More of Conway
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.