Photo: USEPA Environmental-Protection-Agency · Public domainHousehold incomes in Flippin trail those of 94% of U.S. towns
18.8% of residents live below the poverty line, against 16.0% across Arkansas. For jobs and income Flippin is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in ten work in Flippin itself; outside it, Mountain Home draws the most (20%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Flippin
Flippin is where the jobs are
Flippin has 808 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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 ↓
Commutes from Flippin are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arkansas worker. Time on the road ↓
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 425 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Flippin earns its Jobs & income grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Flippin’s grade.
Unemployment (6.7%) is left out: Flippin’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, Flippin could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who works in Flippin, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 390 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 773 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Flippin on a workday afternoon, 30% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Flippin’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.
About 14 minutes to work from Flippin
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Flippin workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 533 commuters (the 2% 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.
The towns that send workers to Flippin
Where Flippin clocks in
6% of workers
4% 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.
In Flippin, 38% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
808 jobs are based in Flippin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Flippin, 2013 → 2023: 778 → 808. 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 Flippin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Flippin start in a car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 7.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 544 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). 4.3% of Flippin households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Flippin’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Flippin is 4,325th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Roland AR | 1,147 | $175K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 429 | Wooster AR | 1,150 | $112K | 5.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,332 | Redfield AR | 1,492 | $72K | 8.3% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,323 | First Mesa AZ | 1,459 | $58K | 17.3% | 6.6% | 5% | D |
| 4,324 | Ohkay Owingeh NM | 1,194 | $47K | 23.6% | 2.6% | 10% | D |
| 4,325 | Flippin AR | 1,290 | $44K | 18.8% | 6.7% | 8% | D |
| 4,326 | Urania LA | 1,155 | $47K | 15.4% | 6.0% | 2% | D |
| 4,327 | Crystal Falls MI | 1,607 | $61K | 21.0% | 5.8% | 15% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Flippin, 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 Flippin: questions
What is the median household income in Flippin?
$43,555 (±$11,420) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Flippin?
18.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Flippin?
14 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Flippin work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mountain Home (20%, 12 mi), Yellville (6%, 6 mi), Little Rock (4%, 108 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Flippin walkable?
Flippin is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Flippin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Flippin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Flippin
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.