Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) · CC BY 3.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Hughes works elsewhere
Home is the office for 2% of workers; Arkansas has 9%. 59 jobs are based in Hughes, and 278 of its residents work somewhere. Only 3% work in Hughes itself; outside it, Memphis draws the most (18%, 30 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Hughes: the gist
Hughes’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Hughes is Memphis, TN, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (49) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Hughes is a place people come home to
There are 59 jobs based in Hughes, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Hughes workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 23 across Arkansas. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical 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 278 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Half of Hughes commutes less than 30 miles
About 29% 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.
Who commutes out of Hughes, and who commutes in
On a workday 271 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 52 people come in from elsewhere.
About 760 people are in Hughes on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Each way, about 32 minutes from Hughes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hughes workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 308 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.
Commuting out of Hughes: the destinations
Where Hughes clocks in
18% of workers
10% 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.
The kinds of work in Hughes
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hughes, 2013 → 2023: 201 → 59. 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 Hughes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Hughes: questions
What is the median household income in Hughes?
$43,250 (±$14,723) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hughes?
41.6%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hughes?
32 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hughes work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Memphis (18%, 30 mi), West Memphis (13%, 21 mi), Forrest City (10%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Hughes without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hughes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hughes
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.