Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Ola
Working residents average 14 minutes each way, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. Home is the office for 1% of workers, next to 9% for Arkansas as a whole. Only 2% work in Ola itself; outside it, Danville draws the most (17%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Ola, in brief
About 14 minutes each way, quicker than most of Arkansas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ola workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 334 commuters (the 1% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Ola
On a workday 284 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 192 people come in from elsewhere.
About 830 people are in Ola on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.68 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Ola goes to work
Where Ola clocks in
9% 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.
Ola makes things: 56% of its jobs are in goods
198 jobs are based in Ola.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ola, 2013 → 2023: 215 → 198. 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 Ola’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Ola, by distance
About 28% 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.
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 Ola: questions
What is the median household income in Ola?
$32,679 (±$15,512) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ola?
46.6%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ola?
14 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ola work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Danville (17%, 10 mi), Corinth (12%, 11 mi), Russellville (9%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Ola without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ola, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ola
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.