Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Decatur has lower household incomes than 93% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Decatur is better than 22% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (D). Poverty touches 11.8% of residents, against 16.0% across Arkansas. Only 3% work in Decatur; the top destination outside it is Bentonville (23%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Decatur in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Decatur than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Decatur fell from 1,287 in 2013 to 530 in 2023, −59%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Decatur makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Decatur are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Decatur residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. 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 810 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Decatur’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Decatur’s grade up (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($45,179, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (5.2%) is left out: Decatur’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, Decatur could be anywhere from D to C+.
43% of the jobs in Decatur make or build things
530 jobs are based in Decatur.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Decatur, 2013 → 2023: 1,287 → 530. 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 Decatur’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Decatur, and who commutes in
On a workday 782 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 502 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Decatur on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.65 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.
Where Decatur’s working residents head each day
Where Decatur clocks in
23% of workers
12% of workers
10% 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.
Time on the road from Decatur: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Decatur workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 612 commuters (the 3% 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.
Half of Decatur commutes less than 14 miles
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.
Most trips from Decatur start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.0% across Arkansas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 631 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). 10.1% of Decatur households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Decatur’s commuters take a bus or train.
Decatur is 4,101st of 5,921 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 232 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,062 | West Fork AR | 2,373 | $78K | 3.1% | 3.5% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,099 | Mayfield Township MI | 1,841 | $74K | 15.7% | 6.9% | 1% | C− |
| 4,100 | Pinconning Township MI | 2,285 | $61K | 13.3% | 3.6% | 3% | C− |
| 4,101 | Decatur AR | 1,893 | $45K | 11.8% | 5.2% | 3% | C− |
| 4,102 | Cherry Grove-Shannon Township IL | 1,574 | $74K | 17.3% | 3.6% | 11% | C− |
| 4,103 | Springport Township MI | 2,142 | $58K | 16.5% | 4.6% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Decatur, 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 Decatur: questions
What is the median household income in Decatur?
$45,179 (±$8,573) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Decatur?
11.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Decatur?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Decatur work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bentonville (23%, 13 mi), Gentry (12%, 7 mi), Rogers (10%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Decatur walkable?
Decatur is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Decatur 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 Decatur, from the people who make the trip.
More of Decatur
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.