Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Almost no one in Elkins’s labor force is looking for work
A typical one-way commute lasts 26 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. Jobs and income earn Elkins A−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Measured by household income, Elkins is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Elkins at work: what stands out
Why Elkins gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Elkins is better than 78% of U.S. towns, #15 of 123 in Arkansas. Unemployment holds Elkins’ grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elkins could be anywhere from B to A.
41% of working residents work in Fayetteville
Where Elkins clocks in
41% of workers
6% 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 people are in Elkins by day
On a workday 1,675 residents head out to work, 105 work right here, and 779 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Elkins on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.50 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.
Inside Elkins’ 884 jobs
884 jobs are based in Elkins.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elkins, 2013 → 2023: 814 → 884. 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 Elkins’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Elkins
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elkins workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,648 commuters (the 11% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Elkins
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.
Getting around Elkins: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elkins is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns, #58 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 1,847 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Elkins households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Elkins’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,112 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600, Elkins comes 918th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Johnson AR | 3,684 | $96K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 217 | Austin AR | 4,017 | $114K | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 411 | Highfill AR | 3,676 | $93K | 4.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 916 | Northfield Center Township OH | 5,596 | $97K | 1.0% | 7.7% | 3% | A− |
| 917 | Siesta Key FL | 5,525 | $116K | 7.2% | 4.0% | 10% | A− |
| 918 | Elkins AR | 4,184 | $82K | 6.5% | 0.0% | 6% | A− |
| 919 | Troutman NC | 4,336 | $98K | 6.1% | 3.4% | 4% | A− |
| 920 | Whitehouse OH | 5,073 | $93K | 10.8% | 1.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Elkins, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
Elkins and its neighbors: 41% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Elkins workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elkins | – | A− | C+ | 26 min | $81,789 |
| Fayetteville | 41% | B− | A | 19 min | $62,695 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fayetteville. Darker towns draw more of Elkins’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Elkins: questions
What is the median household income in Elkins?
$81,789 (±$16,229) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elkins?
6.5%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elkins?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elkins work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fayetteville (41%, 9 mi), Springdale (15%, 14 mi), Bentonville (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elkins walkable?
Elkins is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elkins without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elkins, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elkins
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.