Photo: User:Brandonrush, User:Chrislitherland · Public domainHouseholds in Osceola earn less than those in 92% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in Osceola; the top destination outside it is Blytheville (10%, 18 miles). Below the poverty line: 26.2% of residents, next to 16.0% across Arkansas. For jobs and income Osceola is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (C−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Osceola
Why Osceola gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Osceola’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (10.5%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Osceola could be anywhere from D− to C−.
A place that makes things: 43% of Osceola’s jobs are in goods
2,260 jobs are based in Osceola.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Osceola, 2013 → 2023: 2,736 → 2,260. 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 Osceola’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Osceola
On a workday 1,768 residents head out to work, 813 work right here, and 1,447 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.88 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 Osceola’s working residents head each day
Where Osceola clocks in
10% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Osceola
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Osceola workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,543 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Osceola
About 18% 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 Osceola, work means a drive
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 2,656 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). 16.7% of Osceola households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Osceola’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,700, and where Osceola 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 445 | Cave Springs AR | 6,701 | $146K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,168 | Shannon Hills AR | 4,829 | $71K | 3.9% | 4.4% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,328 | Tontitown AR | 8,046 | $86K | 4.7% | 6.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,236 | Salton City CA | 5,988 | $48K | 14.4% | 12.8% | 8% | D− |
| 3,237 | Salamanca NY | 5,719 | $42K | 24.4% | 8.6% | 23% | D− |
| 3,238 | Osceola AR | 6,450 | $46K | 26.2% | 10.5% | 31% | D− |
| 3,239 | Dos Palos CA | 5,697 | $42K | 17.6% | 9.4% | 20% | D− |
| 3,240 | Linton IN | 5,245 | $45K | 17.3% | 13.3% | 22% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,306 | 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 Osceola, 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 Osceola: questions
What is the median household income in Osceola?
$46,202 (±$13,523) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Osceola?
26.2%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Osceola?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Osceola work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blytheville (10%, 18 mi), Jonesboro (5%, 40 mi), Memphis (3%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Osceola walkable?
Osceola is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Osceola without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Osceola, from the people who make the trip.
More of Osceola
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.