Photo: Chris Litherland · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in El Dorado trail those of 89% of U.S. towns
About half work in El Dorado; the top destination outside it is Little Rock (4%, 106 miles). Poverty touches 23.3% of residents, next to 16.0% for Arkansas as a whole. The two grades for El Dorado are D 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
Jobs and commuting in El Dorado: the gist
El Dorado is where the jobs are
El Dorado has 10,304 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from El Dorado are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arkansas worker. Time on the road ↓
El Dorado draws workers from far and wide
The 10,304 jobs in El Dorado are filled from a wide area. El Dorado’s own residents hold 32% and the ten next-biggest home towns 9%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
The figures behind El Dorado’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, El Dorado is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #87 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds El Dorado’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, El Dorado could be anywhere from D to C−.
Who works in El Dorado, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,400 residents head out to work, 3,281 work right here, and 7,023 people come in from elsewhere.
About 20,000 people are in El Dorado on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.5 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.
Time on the road from El Dorado: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of El Dorado workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,178 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.
Where El Dorado’s workers come from
Where El Dorado clocks in
4% 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.
What work there is in El Dorado: 10,304 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in El Dorado, 2013 → 2023: 11,184 → 10,304. 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 El Dorado’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far El Dorado goes to work
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.
El Dorado is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, El Dorado is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #42 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% of 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 6,879 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). 10.3% of El Dorado households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of El Dorado’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where El Dorado sits among U.S. towns of 12,000 to 22,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 381 | Lowell AR | 12,184 | $96K | 6.9% | 1.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 607 | Maumelle AR | 19,780 | $103K | 7.1% | 3.8% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 968 | Marion AR | 13,378 | $78K | 8.6% | 4.7% | 15% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,816 | Crossville TN | 13,113 | $49K | 22.9% | 7.2% | 48% | D |
| 1,817 | Roanoke Rapids NC | 14,386 | $54K | 18.4% | 8.1% | 27% | D |
| 1,818 | El Dorado AR | 16,609 | $49K | 23.3% | 7.0% | 49% | D |
| 1,819 | Yucca Valley CA | 21,887 | $60K | 15.7% | 6.6% | 15% | D |
| 1,820 | Palestine TX | 19,555 | $45K | 17.6% | 7.0% | 34% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,888 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 El Dorado, 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 El Dorado: questions
What is the median household income in El Dorado?
$49,244 (±$6,926) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in El Dorado?
23.3%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from El Dorado?
16 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in El Dorado work?
49% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Little Rock (4%, 106 mi), Camden (2%, 26 mi), Magnolia (2%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is El Dorado walkable?
El Dorado is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around El Dorado without a car?
<1% 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 El Dorado, from the people who make the trip.
More of El Dorado
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.