About half of Southside’s working residents commute to Batesville
A typical one-way commute lasts 20 minutes (Arkansas 23, U.S. 26). Southside grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in seven work in Southside; the top destination outside it is Batesville (45%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Southside apart on work
Southside trades workers with the towns around it
Southside has about as many jobs (1,652) as working residents (1,731), but they are mostly different people: 1,508 residents leave for work each day while 1,429 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Southside are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly half of Southside works in Batesville
782 working residents, 45%, have their main job in Batesville, 3.4 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Southside itself. The commute map ↓
Most Southside residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Southside has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Southside went from 1,084 in 2013 to 1,652 in 2023, +52%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Southside’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Southside is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #68 of 123 in Arkansas. Household income holds Southside’s grade up ($65,655, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Southside could be anywhere from D to B.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,508 residents head out to work, 223 work right here, and 1,429 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 (0.95 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 Southside’s working residents head each day
Where Southside clocks in
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.
How far it is to work from Southside
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.
What work there is in Southside: 1,652 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Southside, 2013 → 2023: 1,084 → 1,652. 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 Southside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Southside, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Southside workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,647 commuters (the 5% 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.
In Southside, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Southside is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #43 of 123 in Arkansas. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Arkansas, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,739 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). 9.5% of Southside households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Southside’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Southside is 3,274th of 4,039 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Johnson AR | 3,684 | $96K | 2.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 217 | Austin AR | 4,017 | $114K | 1.6% | 1.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 409 | Highfill AR | 3,676 | $93K | 4.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,272 | Tillamook OR | 5,162 | $58K | 11.8% | 4.8% | 31% | C− |
| 3,273 | Maurice River Township NJ | 4,780 | $77K | 19.0% | 7.1% | 6% | C− |
| 3,274 | Southside AR | 4,274 | $66K | 17.5% | 5.4% | 13% | C− |
| 3,275 | Crystal Springs MS | 4,629 | $49K | 17.5% | 5.5% | 13% | C− |
| 3,276 | Granite Falls NC | 4,964 | $57K | 17.2% | 6.8% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Southside, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
Work in the towns next to Southside
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Southside workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southside | – | C− | B− | 20 min | $65,655 |
| Salado | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Desha | under 1% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Salado and Desha: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Southside’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 Southside: questions
What is the median household income in Southside?
$65,655 (±$15,020) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Southside?
17.5%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Southside?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Southside work?
13% work in town.
Is Southside walkable?
Southside is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Southside 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 Southside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Southside
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.