Coop Creek Bridge · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Mansfield trail those of 84% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 23.5% of residents, next to 16.0% for Arkansas as a whole. Mansfield grades D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. At 22 minutes each way, commutes from Mansfield run about the Arkansas average.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Mansfield
One in three of Mansfield works in Fort Smith
136 working residents, 33%, have their main job in Fort Smith, 21 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in Mansfield itself. The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Mansfield than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Mansfield fell from 511 in 2013 to 362 in 2023, −29%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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 408 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Mansfield
On income, poverty and job access, Mansfield is better than 6% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Mansfield’s grade.
Unemployment (6.8%) is left out: Mansfield’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mansfield could be anywhere from D− to C−.
33% of working residents work in Fort Smith
Where Mansfield clocks in
33% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 33% of the jobs in Mansfield
362 jobs are based in Mansfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mansfield, 2013 → 2023: 511 → 362. 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 Mansfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Mansfield by day and by night
On a workday 383 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 337 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 (0.89 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.
Commuting from Mansfield: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mansfield workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 416 commuters (the 9% 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.
How far Mansfield goes to work
About 26% 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.
Mansfield is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mansfield is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 5.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 455 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). 8.4% of Mansfield households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mansfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Mansfield ranks 2,748th of 3,133 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Roland AR | 1,147 | $175K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 248 | Wooster AR | 1,150 | $112K | 5.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 820 | Oak Grove Heights AR | 1,195 | $82K | 7.4% | 0.9% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,746 | Fincastle TN | 1,374 | $52K | 18.6% | 4.5% | 1% | D |
| 2,747 | Basin City WA | 1,176 | $60K | 20.0% | 25.9% | 4% | D |
| 2,748 | Mansfield AR | 1,066 | $53K | 23.5% | 6.8% | 6% | D |
| 2,749 | Hawesville KY | 1,017 | $50K | 29.8% | 4.0% | 11% | D |
| 2,750 | Freeman SD | 1,305 | $57K | 20.9% | 2.5% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Mansfield, 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 Mansfield: questions
What is the median household income in Mansfield?
$53,068 (±$15,866) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mansfield?
23.5%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mansfield?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mansfield work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Smith (33%, 21 mi), Waldron (6%, 14 mi), Greenwood (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mansfield walkable?
Mansfield is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mansfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mansfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mansfield
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.