Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Most of Manila commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Manila is behind 80% of U.S. towns. Manila has 809 jobs, against 1,489 working residents. The two grades for Manila are B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Manila: the figures worth knowing
Manila’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Manila is Jonesboro, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (168) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Manila has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Manila went from 548 in 2013 to 809 in 2023, +48%. The jobs ↓
Manila workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 28 minutes each way, against 23 across Arkansas. Over a year that’s about 215 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Manila workers work from home
Only 1% 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Manila’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manila is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #39 of 123 in Arkansas. Unemployment holds Manila’s grade up (1.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($55,792, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manila could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Manila
About 18% 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.
31% of the jobs in Manila make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manila, 2013 → 2023: 548 → 809. 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 Manila’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Manila: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manila workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,556 commuters (the 1% 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.
Who leaves Manila for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,228 residents head out to work, 261 work right here, and 548 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Manila on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
11% of working residents work in Jonesboro
Where Manila clocks in
11% of workers
11% of workers
4% 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.
In Manila, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manila is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #18 of 123 in Arkansas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,567 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). 11.1% of Manila households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Manila’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Manila ranks: 2,425th of 4,430 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 177 | Johnson AR | 3,684 | $96K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | Austin AR | 4,017 | $114K | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 394 | Salem AR | 2,642 | $74K | 2.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,423 | Mesopotamia Township OH | 3,376 | $66K | 20.3% | 1.0% | 5% | B− |
| 2,424 | Briar Creek Township PA | 3,044 | $77K | 6.0% | 6.3% | 1% | B− |
| 2,425 | Manila AR | 3,773 | $56K | 8.5% | 1.9% | 18% | B− |
| 2,426 | Hahira GA | 3,595 | $71K | 6.6% | 4.8% | 7% | B− |
| 2,427 | Annandale MN | 3,801 | $66K | 8.9% | 3.9% | 17% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,430 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Manila, 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 Manila: questions
What is the median household income in Manila?
$55,792 (±$17,188) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manila?
8.5%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manila?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manila work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jonesboro (11%, 29 mi), Blytheville (11%, 15 mi), Osceola (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manila walkable?
Manila is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manila without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manila, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manila
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.