Titan II ICBM Launch Complex 373-5 Site · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0There are 2.0 jobs in Searcy for every working resident, and 12,993 people commute in
Jobs and income earn Searcy C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Employers in Searcy report 17,098 jobs, and 8,652 of its residents work somewhere. Household incomes here are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Searcy, in a few figures
Searcy’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Searcy is Little Rock, 50 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (835) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Searcy is where the jobs are
Searcy has 17,098 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Searcy 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 ↓
Searcy draws workers from far and wide
The 17,098 jobs in Searcy are filled from a wide area. Searcy’s own residents hold 24% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 63% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Why Searcy gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Searcy is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #73 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Searcy’s grade up (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($52,170, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Searcy could be anywhere from D to C.
Near or far: the trip to work from Searcy
About 21% 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.
Who leaves Searcy for work, and who comes in
On a workday 4,547 residents head out to work and 4,105 work right here.
About 33,000 people are in Searcy on a workday afternoon, 35% more than live here.
2.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 16 minutes to work from Searcy
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Searcy workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,912 commuters (the 6% 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.
Commuting in to Searcy: where workers come from
Where Searcy clocks in
10% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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 Searcy
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Searcy, 2013 → 2023: 16,083 → 17,098. 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 Searcy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Searcy
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Searcy is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #11 of 123 in Arkansas. Both inputs place Searcy 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 9,444 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). 8.7% of Searcy households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Searcy’s commuters take a bus or train.
Searcy and other U.S. towns of 17,000 to 33,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 226 | Centerton AR | 27,176 | $116K | 5.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 494 | Bryant AR | 22,815 | $83K | 5.6% | 2.6% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 555 | Maumelle AR | 19,780 | $103K | 7.1% | 3.8% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,537 | Conway SC | 30,627 | $57K | 21.0% | 8.3% | 25% | C− |
| 1,538 | Corsicana TX | 25,487 | $57K | 18.1% | 6.4% | 33% | C− |
| 1,539 | Searcy AR | 24,351 | $52K | 18.8% | 6.1% | 47% | C− |
| 1,540 | Thomasville GA | 18,667 | $50K | 17.1% | 5.9% | 42% | C− |
| 1,541 | Russellville AR | 29,521 | $51K | 20.8% | 5.9% | 48% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,642 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Searcy, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
How Searcy compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Searcy’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 Searcy: questions
What is the median household income in Searcy?
$52,170 (±$5,123) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Searcy?
18.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Searcy?
16 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Searcy work?
47% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Little Rock (10%, 50 mi), North Little Rock (3%, 42 mi), Conway (2%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Searcy walkable?
Searcy is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Searcy without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Searcy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Searcy
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.