Photo: Brian Stansberry (photographer) · CC BY 4.0Households in Rector have lower incomes than those in 90% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Rector for work; outside it, Paragould is the main destination (19%, 19 miles). 20.2% of residents are in poverty, against 16.0% across Arkansas. Jobs and income earn Rector D; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Rector
On income, poverty and job access, Rector is better than 6% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Rector’s grade.
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Rector’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Rector could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Rector by day and by night
On a workday 597 residents head out to work, 102 work right here, and 215 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Rector on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.45 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.
Out of Rector to work: where people go
Where Rector clocks in
19% of workers
11% of workers
8% 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.
The kinds of work in Rector
317 jobs are based in Rector.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rector, 2013 → 2023: 258 → 317. 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 Rector’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Rector
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rector workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 650 commuters (the 12% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Rector
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.
The commute in Rector is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rector is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. 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 741 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). 7.6% of Rector households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rector’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Rector is 4,757th among 5,343 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Avilla AR | 1,833 | $106K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 936 | West Fork AR | 2,373 | $78K | 3.1% | 3.5% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,371 | Mayflower AR | 2,372 | $76K | 5.6% | 4.4% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,755 | Comins Township MI | 1,982 | $53K | 14.2% | 1.6% | 20% | D |
| 4,756 | Madrid NY | 1,713 | $64K | 26.5% | 8.0% | 8% | D |
| 4,757 | Rector AR | 1,789 | $48K | 20.2% | 4.1% | 15% | D |
| 4,758 | Westernport MD | 1,759 | $48K | 22.2% | 0.0% | 4% | D |
| 4,759 | Snow Hill MD | 2,237 | $48K | 18.4% | 12.4% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Rector, 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 Rector: questions
What is the median household income in Rector?
$47,760 (±$9,713) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rector?
20.2%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rector?
25 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rector work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paragould (19%, 19 mi), Jonesboro (11%, 38 mi), Piggott (8%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rector walkable?
Rector is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rector without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rector, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rector
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.