Mountain Home Commercial Historic District · Photo: JenBaker1951 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Mountain Home earn less than those in 95% of U.S. towns
18.8% of residents are in poverty; Arkansas has 16.0%. Jobs and income earn Mountain Home D; getting around on foot earns it B. More than half work in Mountain Home; the top destination outside it is Little Rock (3%, 111 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Mountain Home, in brief
Mountain Home is where the jobs are
Mountain Home has 11,776 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 20,000 people are in town, 52% more than the 13,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Mountain Home are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arkansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Mountain Home draws workers from far and wide
The 11,776 jobs in Mountain Home are filled from a wide area. Mountain Home’s own residents hold 21% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Mountain Home workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Mountain Home’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 15% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Why Mountain Home gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mountain Home is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #89 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Mountain Home’s grade up (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,274, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mountain Home could be anywhere from D to C.
Mountain Home by day and by night
On a workday 2,325 residents head out to work, 2,521 work right here, and 9,255 people come in from elsewhere.
About 20,000 people are in Mountain Home on a workday afternoon, 52% more than live here.
2.4 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.
About 13 minutes each way, quicker than most of Arkansas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mountain Home workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,425 commuters (the 6% 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 Mountain Home’s workforce comes from
Where Mountain Home clocks in
3% of workers
2% 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.
Jobs in Mountain Home: what the 11,776 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountain Home, 2013 → 2023: 9,751 → 11,776. 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 Mountain Home’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Mountain Home’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Getting around Mountain Home: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mountain Home is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #31 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 4,715 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). 8.0% of Mountain Home households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Mountain Home’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Mountain Home sits among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 341 | Pea Ridge AR | 11,233 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 430 | Farmington AR | 10,658 | $90K | 3.8% | 0.7% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 475 | Lowell AR | 12,184 | $96K | 6.9% | 1.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,420 | Fallsburg NY | 15,156 | $62K | 24.9% | 8.5% | 20% | D |
| 2,421 | Seaford DE | 9,165 | $54K | 18.8% | 13.1% | 15% | D |
| 2,422 | Mountain Home AR | 13,373 | $41K | 18.8% | 7.3% | 52% | D |
| 2,423 | Woodward OK | 11,635 | $54K | 17.2% | 7.5% | 46% | D |
| 2,424 | Pearsall TX | 9,170 | $49K | 28.0% | 4.9% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Mountain Home, 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 Mountain Home: questions
What is the median household income in Mountain Home?
$41,274 (±$4,768) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountain Home?
18.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountain Home?
13 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountain Home work?
52% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Little Rock (3%, 111 mi), Fayetteville (2%, 101 mi), Bentonville (2%, 103 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountain Home walkable?
Mountain Home is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mountain Home without a car?
<1% 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 Mountain Home, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountain Home
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.