Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Monticello earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
The two grades for Monticello are D− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 30.1% of residents are in poverty (Arkansas 16.0%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Monticello stands out on work
Monticello is where the jobs are
Monticello has 5,202 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Monticello are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arkansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Monticello draws workers from far and wide
The 5,202 jobs in Monticello are filled from a wide area. Monticello’s own residents hold 27% and the ten next-biggest home towns 14%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Monticello’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monticello is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #117 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Monticello’s grade up (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($27,238, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monticello could be anywhere from D− to D.
Monticello by day and by night
On a workday 1,649 residents head out to work, 1,385 work right here, and 3,817 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Monticello on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.7 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.
How long Monticello spends getting to work: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monticello workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,773 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where Monticello’s workers come from
Where Monticello clocks in
5% 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.
Inside Monticello’s 5,202 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monticello, 2013 → 2023: 5,264 → 5,202. 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 Monticello’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Monticello commutes
About 24% 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.
For most of Monticello, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monticello is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #39 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Monticello near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,968 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). 7.6% of Monticello households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Monticello’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,200, and where Monticello sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 453 | Farmington AR | 10,658 | $90K | 3.8% | 0.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 481 | Cave Springs AR | 6,701 | $146K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,297 | Tontitown AR | 8,046 | $86K | 4.7% | 6.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,001 | Yazoo City MS | 9,867 | $28K | 46.7% | 12.7% | 29% | D− |
| 3,002 | Silver City NM | 9,284 | $39K | 23.7% | 13.1% | 50% | D− |
| 3,003 | Monticello AR | 8,269 | $27K | 30.1% | 9.6% | 46% | D− |
| 3,004 | Louisville MS | 5,921 | $37K | 39.3% | 10.3% | 39% | D− |
| 3,005 | Roxboro NC | 8,380 | $37K | 33.3% | 13.5% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,012 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Monticello, 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 Monticello: questions
What is the median household income in Monticello?
$27,238 (±$5,761) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monticello?
30.1%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monticello?
16 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monticello work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Little Rock (5%, 83 mi), Pine Bluff (4%, 42 mi), Warren (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monticello walkable?
Monticello is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monticello 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 Monticello, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monticello
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.