Photo: NatalieMaynor · CC BY 2.0Pocahontas has lower household incomes than 93% of U.S. towns
Pocahontas grades D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 23.8%, where Arkansas as a whole has 16.0%. About one in three work in Pocahontas itself; outside it, Jonesboro draws the most (10%, 35 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Pocahontas apart on work
Pocahontas’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pocahontas is Jonesboro, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (259) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Pocahontas are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 23 across Arkansas. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arkansas worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Pocahontas workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Pocahontas’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 16% 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.
Where Pocahontas’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pocahontas is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #97 of 123 in Arkansas. Unemployment holds Pocahontas’ grade up (5.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($44,216, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pocahontas could be anywhere from D− to C.
Where in the region Pocahontas works
About 20% 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.
Each way, about 16 minutes from Pocahontas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pocahontas workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,719 commuters (the 7% 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.
Jobs in Pocahontas: what the 3,640 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pocahontas, 2013 → 2023: 3,144 → 3,640. 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 Pocahontas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Pocahontas by day
On a workday 1,657 residents head out to work, 943 work right here, and 2,697 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,700 people are in Pocahontas on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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 Pocahontas’ working residents head each day
Where Pocahontas clocks in
10% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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.
Most of Pocahontas commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pocahontas is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns, #71 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% of 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 2,911 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). 6.9% of Pocahontas households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Pocahontas’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Pocahontas compares with U.S. towns of 5,300 to 10,300
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 475 | Cave Springs AR | 6,701 | $146K | 1.8% | 4.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,310 | Tontitown AR | 8,046 | $86K | 4.7% | 6.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,418 | White Hall AR | 5,532 | $78K | 8.6% | 3.1% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,956 | Madras OR | 7,829 | $65K | 17.7% | 10.4% | 35% | D |
| 2,957 | Doolittle TX | 6,203 | $36K | 55.9% | 16.4% | <1% | D |
| 2,958 | Pocahontas AR | 7,622 | $44K | 23.8% | 5.6% | 36% | D |
| 2,959 | Hope AR | 8,445 | $38K | 23.4% | 6.0% | 29% | D |
| 2,960 | Oelwein IA | 5,757 | $47K | 18.5% | 7.6% | 33% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,111 | 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 Pocahontas, 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 Pocahontas: questions
What is the median household income in Pocahontas?
$44,216 (±$14,997) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pocahontas?
23.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pocahontas?
16 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pocahontas work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jonesboro (10%, 35 mi), Walnut Ridge (6%, 12 mi), Paragould (4%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pocahontas walkable?
Pocahontas is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pocahontas without a car?
1% 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 Pocahontas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pocahontas
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.