Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Pine Bluff trail those of 94% of U.S. towns
About half work in Pine Bluff; the top destination outside it is Little Rock (13%, 40 miles). 24.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 16.0% across Arkansas. The two grades for Pine Bluff are D for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Pine Bluff: the gist
Pine Bluff’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pine Bluff is Little Rock, 41 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (1,883) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Pine Bluff workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Pine Bluff’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% 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.
Jobs & income in Pine Bluff: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pine Bluff is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #94 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Pine Bluff’s grade up (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (10.5%, U.S. 5.2%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pine Bluff stays D.
How far it is to work from Pine Bluff
About 15% 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 Pine Bluff
17,573 jobs are based in Pine Bluff.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pine Bluff, 2013 → 2023: 20,994 → 17,573. 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 Pine Bluff’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Pine Bluff by day and by night
On a workday 7,618 residents head out to work, 7,096 work right here, and 10,477 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 (1.19 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 Pine Bluff’s working residents head each day
Where Pine Bluff clocks in
13% of workers
3% 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.
Time on the road from Pine Bluff: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pine Bluff workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,896 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.
Pine Bluff is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pine Bluff is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #28 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Pine Bluff near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,511 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). 9.6% of Pine Bluff households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Pine Bluff’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 27,000 to 52,000, and where Pine Bluff sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Centerton AR | 27,176 | $116K | 5.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 471 | Bella Vista AR | 34,518 | $88K | 3.6% | 4.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 476 | Sherwood AR | 33,620 | $81K | 9.0% | 2.9% | 8% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,109 | Jamestown NY | 27,663 | $44K | 25.3% | 9.0% | 34% | D |
| 1,110 | LaGrange GA | 34,730 | $44K | 22.9% | 9.0% | 38% | D |
| 1,111 | Pine Bluff AR | 38,213 | $43K | 24.0% | 10.5% | 48% | D |
| 1,112 | Meridian MS | 33,370 | $37K | 34.3% | 7.9% | 56% | D |
| 1,113 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Pine Bluff, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
The towns around Pine Bluff
The biggest share goes to White Hall (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pine Bluff workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Bluff | – | D | B | 19 min | $42,718 |
| White Hall | 3% | B | D | 22 min | $78,092 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pine Bluff’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Pine Bluff: questions
What is the median household income in Pine Bluff?
$42,718 (±$3,304) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pine Bluff?
24.0%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pine Bluff?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pine Bluff work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Little Rock (13%, 40 mi), North Little Rock (3%, 41 mi), White Hall (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pine Bluff walkable?
Pine Bluff is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pine Bluff 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 Pine Bluff, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pine Bluff
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.