Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Work and commuting in Fayetteville
About half work in Fayetteville itself; outside it, Springdale draws the most (14%, 8 miles). Fayetteville grades B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 7.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 3.0 in Little Rock.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Fayetteville: the gist
A young workforce
32% of Fayetteville’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Fayetteville has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Fayetteville went from 43,971 in 2013 to 60,422 in 2023, +37%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Fayetteville
On family income, poverty and job access, Fayetteville is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #29 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Fayetteville’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.7%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on family income.
21% of Fayetteville’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (16% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 13.7%, against 20.6% for all residents. Unemployment (4.0%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($95,760), since student households pull the household median down ($62,695).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Fayetteville could be anywhere from B− to B.
Jobs in Fayetteville: what the 60,422 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayetteville, 2013 → 2023: 43,971 → 60,422. 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 Fayetteville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Fayetteville on a workday
On a workday 23,017 residents head out to work, 19,065 work right here, and 41,357 people come in from elsewhere.
About 125,000 people are in Fayetteville on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 per resident).
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 Fayetteville goes to work
Where Fayetteville clocks in
7% of workers
7% 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.
Getting to work from Fayetteville takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fayetteville workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 44,260 commuters (the 15% 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.
How far Fayetteville’s workers travel
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Fayetteville
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fayetteville is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #1 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Fayetteville 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 52,033 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 40% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 16% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 7.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 90% 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). 4.7% of Fayetteville households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fayetteville’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
How Fayetteville ranks: 245th of 402 U.S. towns of 75,000 to 144,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Rogers AR | 76,956 | $87K | 10.5% | 2.5% | 28% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 243 | Rancho Cordova CA | 87,554 | $90K | 12.2% | 7.3% | 15% | B− |
| 244 | Cicero IL | 81,858 | $71K | 14.6% | 5.0% | 9% | B− |
| 245 | Fayetteville AR | 106,623 | $63K | 20.6% | 4.0% | 45% | B− |
| 246 | Everett WA | 113,567 | $84K | 12.9% | 5.8% | 28% | B− |
| 247 | Richmond CA | 114,861 | $95K | 13.5% | 8.3% | 10% | B− |
| 248 | Springdale AR | 90,685 | $70K | 13.4% | 3.7% | 36% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 376 | Fort Smith AR | 90,855 | $55K | 18.3% | 6.5% | 61% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 402 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Fayetteville, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
Bordering towns draw 15% of Fayetteville’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fayetteville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayetteville | – | B− | A | 19 min | $62,695 |
| Farmington | under 1% | A | C | 23 min | $90,469 |
| Johnson | 1% | A+ | B+ | 21 min | $95,844 |
| Greenland | under 1% | C+ | C− | 22 min | $69,821 |
| Springdale | 14% | B− | B− | 19 min | $69,787 |
| Elkins | under 1% | A− | C+ | 26 min | $81,789 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Springdale. Darker towns draw more of Fayetteville’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.
- Students. 21% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Fayetteville: questions
What is the median household income in Fayetteville?
$62,695 (±$4,256) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayetteville?
20.6% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 13.7%. Arkansas: 16.0%.
How long is the commute from Fayetteville?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayetteville work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springdale (14%, 8 mi), Bentonville (7%, 20 mi), Rogers (7%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fayetteville walkable?
Fayetteville is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayetteville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 16% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fayetteville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayetteville
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.