Photo: Ardelta · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Forrest City are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Forrest City D−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Below the poverty line: 37.7% of residents; Arkansas has 16.0%. About two in five work in Forrest City; the top destination outside it is Memphis (7%, 47 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Forrest City, in brief
Fewer than half of Forrest City workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Forrest City’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Forrest City 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 ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 ↓
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 Forrest City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Forrest City is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #115 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Forrest City’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Forrest City stays D−.
The kinds of work in Forrest City
4,992 jobs are based in Forrest City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forrest City, 2013 → 2023: 6,011 → 4,992. 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 Forrest City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Forrest City, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forrest City workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,253 commuters (the 3% 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 commute from Forrest City, by distance
About 32% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Forrest City
On a workday 2,115 residents head out to work, 1,493 work right here, and 3,499 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Forrest City on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 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 the trip to work from Forrest City ends
Where Forrest City clocks in
7% of workers
4% 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.
Most of Forrest City commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forrest City is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns, #55 of 123 in Arkansas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,342 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). 17.8% of Forrest City households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Forrest City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Forrest City compares with U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 322 | Pea Ridge AR | 11,233 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 404 | Farmington AR | 10,658 | $90K | 3.8% | 0.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 446 | Lowell AR | 12,184 | $96K | 6.9% | 1.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,347 | Clarksdale MS | 13,643 | $36K | 40.3% | 10.8% | 40% | D− |
| 2,348 | Bogalusa LA | 10,321 | $31K | 39.4% | 15.7% | 21% | D− |
| 2,349 | Forrest City AR | 12,308 | $36K | 37.7% | 13.5% | 41% | D− |
| 2,350 | Yazoo City MS | 9,867 | $28K | 46.7% | 12.7% | 29% | D− |
| 2,351 | Silver City NM | 9,284 | $39K | 23.7% | 13.1% | 50% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | 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 Forrest City, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
Work in the towns next to Forrest City
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Forrest City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forrest City | – | D− | B− | 16 min | $35,689 |
| Caldwell | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Caldwell: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Forrest City’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 Forrest City: questions
What is the median household income in Forrest City?
$35,689 (±$8,903) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forrest City?
37.7%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forrest City?
16 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forrest City work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Memphis (7%, 47 mi), Marion (4%, 36 mi), Jonesboro (4%, 56 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Forrest City walkable?
Forrest City is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forrest City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Forrest City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forrest City
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.