Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Hope are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Hope grades D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 23.4%, against 16.0% across Arkansas. About one in four work in Hope; the top destination outside it is Prescott (4%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Hope
Hope trades workers with the towns around it
Hope has about as many jobs (3,668) as working residents (3,315), but they are mostly different people: 2,364 residents leave for work each day while 2,717 people come in. Only 26% of the jobs in Hope are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Hope workers earn over $40,000 a year
36% of Hope’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 15% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Few Hope workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 9% across Arkansas. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hope
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hope is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #98 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Hope’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($37,500, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hope could be anywhere from D− to C.
Hope by day and by night
On a workday 2,364 residents head out to work, 951 work right here, and 2,717 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.11 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.
Inside Hope’s 3,668 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hope, 2013 → 2023: 4,439 → 3,668. 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 Hope’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Hope: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hope workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,187 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.
Where Hope goes to work
Where Hope clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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 far Hope’s workers travel
About 22% 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 commute in Hope is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hope is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns, #67 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 3,261 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). 11.9% of Hope households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hope’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Hope compares with U.S. towns of 5,900 to 11,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 350 | Pea Ridge AR | 11,233 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 454 | Farmington AR | 10,658 | $90K | 3.8% | 0.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 484 | Cave Springs AR | 6,701 | $146K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,842 | Doolittle TX | 6,203 | $36K | 55.9% | 16.4% | <1% | D |
| 2,843 | Pocahontas AR | 7,622 | $44K | 23.8% | 5.6% | 36% | D |
| 2,844 | Hope AR | 8,445 | $38K | 23.4% | 6.0% | 29% | D |
| 2,845 | Oak Grove KY | 7,830 | $49K | 23.1% | 9.5% | 10% | D |
| 2,846 | Bay Minette AL | 8,555 | $45K | 24.4% | 7.2% | 18% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,981 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Hope, 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 Hope: questions
What is the median household income in Hope?
$37,500 (±$6,412) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hope?
23.4%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hope?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hope work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Prescott (4%, 15 mi), Texarkana (4%, 28 mi), Texarkana (3%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hope walkable?
Hope is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hope without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hope, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hope
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.