Photo: RBK72650 · CC BY-SA 4.0Marshall has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. The poverty rate is 31.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas. Marshall grades 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
Work in Marshall: the figures worth knowing
Marshall is where the jobs are
Marshall has 900 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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 ↓
Commutes from Marshall are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arkansas worker. 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; with 424 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Marshall earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Marshall is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Marshall’s grade.
Unemployment (4.8%) is left out: Marshall’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Marshall stays D−.
In and out of Marshall on a workday
On a workday 295 residents head out to work, 129 work right here, and 771 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Marshall on a workday afternoon, 36% more than live here.
2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Half of Marshall commutes less than 32 miles
About 36% 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.
About 17 minutes to work from Marshall
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marshall workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 316 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.
The daily trip into Marshall
Where Marshall clocks in
6% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Marshall
900 jobs are based in Marshall.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marshall, 2013 → 2023: 1,081 → 900. 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 Marshall’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Marshall, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marshall is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 328 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). 17.7% of Marshall households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marshall’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Marshall compares with U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Roland AR | 1,147 | $175K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 485 | Wooster AR | 1,150 | $112K | 5.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,508 | Redfield AR | 1,492 | $72K | 8.3% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,352 | Keeler Farm NM | 1,376 | $44K | 50.4% | 27.3% | 1% | D− |
| 5,353 | Fort Thompson SD | 1,147 | $47K | 41.6% | 10.5% | 27% | D− |
| 5,354 | Marshall AR | 1,320 | $28K | 31.8% | 4.8% | 30% | D− |
| 5,355 | Edison GA | 1,145 | $29K | 40.6% | 13.6% | 7% | D− |
| 5,356 | Baldwin MI | 1,025 | $25K | 38.9% | 6.6% | 10% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Marshall, 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 Marshall: questions
What is the median household income in Marshall?
$28,021 (±$8,089) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marshall?
31.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marshall?
17 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marshall work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harrison (6%, 35 mi), Clinton (3%, 25 mi), Russellville (3%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marshall walkable?
Marshall is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marshall without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marshall, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marshall
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.