Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 4.0At 3.1%, unemployment in Lincoln is lower than in 68% of U.S. towns
Only 5% stay in Lincoln for work; outside it, Fayetteville is the main destination (25%, 16 miles). Lincoln grades C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. The average commute takes 32 minutes each way, next to 23 for Arkansas and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lincoln: the figures worth knowing
What’s behind Lincoln’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lincoln is better than 39% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Lincoln’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lincoln could be anywhere from D to A−.
About 32 minutes to work from Lincoln
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lincoln workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,165 commuters (the 5% 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.
In and out of Lincoln on a workday
On a workday 917 residents head out to work, 53 work right here, and 570 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Lincoln on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
The places Lincoln commutes to
Where Lincoln clocks in
25% of workers
6% 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.
What the 623 jobs in Lincoln are
623 jobs are based in Lincoln.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lincoln, 2013 → 2023: 568 → 623. 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 Lincoln’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Lincoln, by distance
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.
Lincoln is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lincoln is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,232 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.3% of Lincoln households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lincoln’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lincoln is 2,767th among 4,995 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 224 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 335 | Salem AR | 2,642 | $74K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,765 | San Ysidro NM | 2,118 | $89K | 8.6% | 15.8% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,766 | Ashford AL | 2,470 | $65K | 15.0% | 3.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,767 | Lincoln AR | 2,370 | $68K | 12.4% | 3.1% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,768 | West Union IA | 2,424 | $54K | 11.6% | 1.4% | 32% | C+ |
| 2,769 | Byrnes Mill MO | 3,183 | $99K | 21.1% | 9.8% | <1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | 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 Lincoln, 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 Lincoln: questions
What is the median household income in Lincoln?
$68,333 (±$18,407) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lincoln?
12.4%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lincoln?
32 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lincoln work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fayetteville (25%, 16 mi), Springdale (11%, 22 mi), Prairie Grove (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lincoln walkable?
Lincoln is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lincoln without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lincoln, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lincoln
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.