Robert Atlas Harper House · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Fort Smith draws about half of Greenwood’s working residents
About one in seven work in Greenwood; the top destination outside it is Fort Smith (49%, 12 miles). Jobs and income earn Greenwood B−; getting around on foot earns it C. The average commute takes 26 minutes each way, where Arkansas has 23 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Greenwood, in a few figures
What’s behind Greenwood’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Greenwood is better than 50% of U.S. towns, #32 of 123 in Arkansas. Unemployment holds Greenwood’s grade up (2.5%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Greenwood could be anywhere from C to B+.
Where people from Greenwood work
Where Greenwood clocks in
49% of workers
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.
Who leaves Greenwood for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,452 residents head out to work, 537 work right here, and 1,630 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,000 people are in Greenwood on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.54 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 2024, primary jobs.
What Greenwood’s employers do
2,167 jobs are based in Greenwood.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Greenwood, 2014 → 2024: 1,901 → 2,167. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Greenwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Greenwood, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Greenwood workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,592 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.
Half of Greenwood commutes less than 13 miles
About 21% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Greenwood is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Greenwood is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #74 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Greenwood 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 4,056 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). 1.6% of Greenwood households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Greenwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Greenwood is 1,604th of 2,734 U.S. towns of 6,900 to 13,200
| # | 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Pea Ridge AR | 11,233 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 437 | Farmington AR | 10,658 | $90K | 3.8% | 0.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 480 | Lowell AR | 12,184 | $96K | 6.9% | 1.4% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,602 | Ormond-by-the-Sea FL | 7,146 | $79K | 10.0% | 4.6% | 5% | B− |
| 1,603 | Byram MS | 12,707 | $70K | 9.1% | 5.4% | 4% | B− |
| 1,604 | Greenwood AR | 9,793 | $67K | 10.0% | 2.5% | 13% | B− |
| 1,605 | Effingham IL | 12,406 | $72K | 14.6% | 2.6% | 48% | B− |
| 1,606 | Sumpter Township MI | 11,384 | $76K | 12.7% | 5.4% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,734 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Greenwood, 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 2024, 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 Greenwood: questions
What is the median household income in Greenwood?
$66,844 (±$7,287) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Greenwood?
10.0%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Greenwood?
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 Greenwood work?
13% work in town.
Is Greenwood walkable?
Greenwood is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Greenwood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Greenwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Greenwood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.