Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Nashville trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
27.3% of residents are in poverty, next to 16.0% for Arkansas as a whole. The two grades for Nashville are D for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in three work in Nashville; the top destination outside it is De Queen (4%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Nashville: the gist
Nashville is where the jobs are
Nashville has 3,621 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 6,000 people are in town, 51% more than the 3,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Nashville 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 ↓
Nashville makes and builds things
47% of the jobs based in Nashville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Nashville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 44%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Nashville workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Nashville’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 14% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Nashville
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Nashville is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #105 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Nashville’s grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,142, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Nashville could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Nashville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,066 residents head out to work, 547 work right here, and 3,074 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,000 people are in Nashville on a workday afternoon, 51% more than live here.
2.2 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 for Nashville’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nashville workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,663 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.
Factories, building and farms: 47% of the jobs in Nashville
3,621 jobs are based in Nashville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nashville, 2013 → 2023: 4,499 → 3,621. 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 Nashville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Nashville’s workforce comes from
Where Nashville clocks in
4% 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 far Nashville’s workers travel
About 30% 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.
In Nashville, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Nashville is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #32 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% 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 1,732 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). 10.0% of Nashville households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Nashville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Nashville and other U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 170 | Johnson AR | 3,684 | $96K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 214 | Austin AR | 4,017 | $114K | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 406 | Highfill AR | 3,676 | $93K | 4.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,889 | Abbeville SC | 4,902 | $41K | 27.3% | 7.5% | 16% | D |
| 3,890 | Morongo Valley CA | 4,209 | $52K | 24.9% | 8.4% | 4% | D |
| 3,891 | Nashville AR | 3,945 | $41K | 27.3% | 6.9% | 34% | D |
| 3,892 | Union City IN | 3,450 | $39K | 31.2% | 7.1% | 17% | D |
| 3,893 | Federalsburg MD | 2,864 | $34K | 34.0% | 9.5% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,084 | 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 Nashville, 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 Nashville: questions
What is the median household income in Nashville?
$41,142 (±$6,731) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nashville?
27.3%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nashville?
13 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nashville work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are De Queen (4%, 29 mi), Mineral Springs (2%, 6 mi), Little Rock (2%, 101 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Nashville walkable?
Nashville is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nashville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nashville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nashville
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.