Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0De Queen has lower household incomes than 85% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn De Queen C−; getting around on foot earns it B. The poverty rate is 17.1%, where Arkansas as a whole has 16.0%. For 0% of workers, the job is at home (Arkansas 9%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in De Queen, in a few figures
De Queen is where the jobs are
De Queen has 3,701 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
De Queen makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in De Queen are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs De Queen residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 50%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of De Queen workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of De Queen’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 13% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A young workforce
31% of De Queen’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Few De Queen workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 9% across Arkansas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
De Queen’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, De Queen is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #78 of 123 in Arkansas. Unemployment holds De Queen’s grade up (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($52,522, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, De Queen could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Who leaves De Queen for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,197 residents head out to work, 1,124 work right here, and 2,577 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,400 people are in De Queen on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 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.
De Queen works in goods: 45% of its jobs
3,701 jobs are based in De Queen.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in De Queen, 2013 → 2023: 3,740 → 3,701. 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 De Queen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
De Queen’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of De Queen workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,393 commuters (the 0% 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.
Where De Queen’s workforce comes from
Where De Queen clocks in
3% 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.
How many miles De Queen commutes
About 25% 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.
In De Queen, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, De Queen is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #27 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place De Queen 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 2,393 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). 5.2% of De Queen households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of De Queen’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, De Queen is 3,036th of 3,444 U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 453 | Cave Springs AR | 6,701 | $146K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 730 | Haskell AR | 4,362 | $86K | 7.6% | 0.8% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,187 | Shannon Hills AR | 4,829 | $71K | 3.9% | 4.4% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,034 | Salem IN | 6,427 | $57K | 25.7% | 4.8% | 25% | C− |
| 3,035 | Glasgow Village MO | 5,504 | $30K | 46.7% | 10.0% | <1% | C− |
| 3,036 | De Queen AR | 6,045 | $53K | 17.1% | 4.8% | 48% | C− |
| 3,037 | Centerville IA | 5,327 | $47K | 21.3% | 3.6% | 41% | C− |
| 3,038 | South Greeley WY | 4,631 | $57K | 24.9% | 7.2% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,444 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 De Queen, 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 De Queen: questions
What is the median household income in De Queen?
$52,522 (±$12,093) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in De Queen?
17.1%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from De Queen?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in De Queen work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hochatown (6%, 26 mi), Nashville (3%, 29 mi), Little Rock (2%, 123 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is De Queen walkable?
De Queen is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around De Queen without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from De Queen, from the people who make the trip.
More of De Queen
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.