Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Mount Ida are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Mount Ida itself; outside it, Hot Springs draws the most (14%, 33 miles). 32.6% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 16.0% for Arkansas as a whole. Jobs and income earn Mount Ida D−; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Mount Ida, in brief
Mount Ida’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mount Ida is Hot Springs, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (40) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Mount Ida than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Mount Ida fell from 589 in 2013 to 415 in 2023, −30%. 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 294 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Mount Ida’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mount Ida is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Mount Ida’s grade.
Unemployment (6.7%) is left out: Mount Ida’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, Mount Ida stays D−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Mount Ida
About 29% 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.
The kinds of work in Mount Ida
415 jobs are based in Mount Ida.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Ida, 2013 → 2023: 589 → 415. 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 Mount Ida’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Mount Ida
On a workday 234 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 355 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Mount Ida on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.41 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.
Where Mount Ida goes to work
Where Mount Ida clocks in
14% of workers
6% of workers
2% 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.
How long Mount Ida spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Ida workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 336 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.
The commute in Mount Ida is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Ida is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns. 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 361 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). 8.1% of Mount Ida households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mount Ida’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mount Ida compares with U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 3,075 | Clarks LA | 1,034 | $28K | 29.2% | 3.8% | 2% | D− |
| 3,076 | Goodman MS | 1,219 | $15K | 59.0% | 19.5% | 1% | D− |
| 3,077 | Mount Ida AR | 1,005 | $37K | 32.6% | 6.7% | 20% | D− |
| 3,078 | Lambert MS | 1,095 | $22K | 26.0% | 6.2% | 1% | D− |
| 3,079 | Fairfax OK | 1,106 | $40K | 24.7% | 14.8% | 7% | 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 Mount Ida, 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 Mount Ida: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Ida?
$37,045 (±$11,134) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Ida?
32.6%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Ida?
22 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Ida work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hot Springs (14%, 33 mi), Little Rock (6%, 73 mi), Glenwood (2%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Ida walkable?
Mount Ida is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Ida 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 Mount Ida, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Ida
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.