Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Dermott earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
Poverty touches 31.7% of residents, where Arkansas as a whole has 16.0%. Measured by household income, Dermott is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Dermott 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
Dermott and work: the main findings
Fewer than half of Dermott workers earn over $40,000 a year
32% of Dermott’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 22% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Dermott than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Dermott fell from 544 in 2013 to 387 in 2023, −29%. 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 ↓
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 596 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Dermott gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Dermott is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Dermott’s grade.
Unemployment (17.9%) is left out: Dermott’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Dermott stays D−.
Dermott is a services town
387 jobs are based in Dermott.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dermott, 2013 → 2023: 544 → 387. 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 Dermott’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Dermott’s commute, mile by mile
About 35% 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.
How a workday changes Dermott
On a workday 496 residents head out to work, 100 work right here, and 287 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.
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.
12% of working residents work in Monticello
Where Dermott clocks in
12% of workers
9% 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.
About 26 minutes each way for Dermott’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dermott workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 605 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.
Driving is how Dermott gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dermott is more walkable than 36% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Dermott 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 605 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). 14.1% of Dermott households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dermott’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dermott next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 235 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 354 | Salem AR | 2,642 | $74K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,173 | Homestead Valley CA | 2,689 | $45K | 28.0% | 11.5% | 3% | D− |
| 5,174 | Livingston AL | 3,242 | $24K | 27.8% | 20.6% | 33% | D− |
| 5,175 | Dermott AR | 2,412 | $27K | 31.7% | 17.9% | 17% | D− |
| 5,176 | Haynesville LA | 1,872 | $21K | 48.2% | 12.8% | 13% | D− |
| 5,177 | Pleasant Plains Township MI | 1,737 | $33K | 30.0% | 7.5% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | 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 Dermott, 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 Dermott: questions
What is the median household income in Dermott?
$27,212 (±$12,521) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dermott?
31.7%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dermott?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dermott work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Monticello (12%, 22 mi), McGehee (9%, 7 mi), Lake Village (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dermott walkable?
Dermott is more walkable than 36% 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 Dermott without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dermott, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dermott
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.