Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 4.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Marianna’s
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Below the poverty line: 56.8% of residents, where Arkansas as a whole has 16.0%. The two grades for Marianna are D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Marianna, in brief
Home offices are common in Marianna
30% of Marianna workers work from home, against 9% across Arkansas. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Marianna workers earn over $40,000 a year
37% of Marianna’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 973 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Marianna’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marianna is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #123 of 123 in Arkansas. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Marianna’s grade.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marianna stays D−.
About 22 minutes each way, about the AR average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marianna workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 604 commuters (the 30% 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.
What the 991 jobs in Marianna are
991 jobs are based in Marianna.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marianna, 2013 → 2023: 1,120 → 991. 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 Marianna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Marianna
About 34% 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 Marianna, and who commutes in
On a workday 673 residents head out to work, 300 work right here, and 691 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 (1.02 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.
12% of working residents work in Forrest City
Where Marianna clocks in
12% of workers
4% 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.
The commute in Marianna is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marianna is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns, #101 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 858 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). 29.8% of Marianna households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marianna’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Marianna sits among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 163 | Johnson AR | 3,684 | $96K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Austin AR | 4,017 | $114K | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 257 | Goshen AR | 2,405 | $150K | 1.7% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,434 | Rocky Ford CO | 3,752 | $41K | 31.7% | 11.5% | 17% | D− |
| 4,435 | Wrightsville GA | 3,585 | $35K | 39.7% | 9.9% | 17% | D− |
| 4,436 | Marianna AR | 3,253 | $20K | 56.8% | 28.9% | 31% | D− |
| 4,437 | Walton NY | 2,824 | $35K | 30.3% | 15.7% | 25% | D− |
| 4,438 | West Union OH | 3,091 | $29K | 38.6% | 14.0% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | 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 Marianna, 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 Marianna: questions
What is the median household income in Marianna?
$20,138 (±$5,398) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marianna?
56.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marianna?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marianna work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Forrest City (12%, 17 mi), Jonesboro (4%, 72 mi), Little Rock (4%, 90 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marianna walkable?
Marianna is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marianna without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 30% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marianna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marianna
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.