About half of Lavaca’s working residents commute to Fort Smith
Working residents average 24 minutes each way (Arkansas 23, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Lavaca B+; getting around on foot earns it C−. Only 4% work in Lavaca; the top destination outside it is Fort Smith (47%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lavaca, in a few figures
Nearly half of Lavaca works in Fort Smith
448 working residents, 47%, have their main job in Fort Smith, 11 miles away. That’s 12 times as many as work in Lavaca itself. The commute map ↓
Lavaca is a place people come home to
There are 268 jobs based in Lavaca, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lavaca has about 1,800 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 952 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Lavaca’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lavaca is better than 69% of U.S. towns, #20 of 123 in Arkansas. The poverty rate holds Lavaca’s grade up (5.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lavaca could be anywhere from C+ to A.
The towns that employ Lavaca’s residents
Where Lavaca clocks in
47% of workers
5% 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.
A workday in Lavaca: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 911 residents head out to work, 41 work right here, and 227 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Lavaca on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.28 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 2023, primary jobs.
What work there is in Lavaca: 268 jobs
268 jobs are based in Lavaca.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lavaca, 2013 → 2023: 291 → 268. 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 Lavaca’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lavaca’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lavaca workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,202 commuters (the 4% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lavaca
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.
In Lavaca, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lavaca is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns, #91 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 1,250 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). 2.0% of Lavaca households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lavaca’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lavaca places 1,217th of 4,868 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 226 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 340 | Salem AR | 2,642 | $74K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,215 | Kendall NY | 2,577 | $88K | 6.9% | 3.0% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,216 | Jefferson Township OH | 3,071 | $92K | 2.2% | 5.2% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,217 | Lavaca AR | 2,528 | $81K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,218 | Epworth IA | 2,037 | $84K | 5.2% | 2.4% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,219 | Turner OR | 2,412 | $102K | 3.9% | 6.8% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Lavaca, 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 Lavaca: questions
What is the median household income in Lavaca?
$80,924 (±$14,935) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lavaca?
5.9%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lavaca?
24 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lavaca work?
4% work in town.
Is Lavaca walkable?
Lavaca is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lavaca 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 Lavaca, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lavaca
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.