Lafayette County Training School · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Stamps are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Stamps itself; outside it, Magnolia draws the most (15%, 17 miles). Below the poverty line: 25.8% of residents, next to 16.0% across Arkansas. The two grades for Stamps 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 Stamps: the gist
Fewer jobs are based in Stamps than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Stamps fell from 627 in 2013 to 357 in 2023, −43%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Stamps workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Stamps’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 15% 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; with 512 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Stamps earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Stamps is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Stamps’ grade.
Unemployment (13.9%) is left out: Stamps’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, Stamps could be anywhere from D− to D.
Most jobs in Stamps are in services
357 jobs are based in Stamps.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stamps, 2013 → 2023: 627 → 357. 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 Stamps’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Stamps
On a workday 439 residents head out to work, 73 work right here, and 284 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Stamps on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.70 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.
Where people from Stamps work
Where Stamps clocks in
15% of workers
5% 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.
From Stamps, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stamps workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 447 commuters (the 9% 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.
How far Stamps goes to work
About 23% 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.
Most trips from Stamps start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stamps is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Stamps 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 489 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). 12.8% of Stamps households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stamps’ commuters take a bus or train.
Stamps and other U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Roland AR | 1,147 | $175K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 372 | Wooster AR | 1,150 | $112K | 5.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,170 | Redfield AR | 1,492 | $72K | 8.3% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,096 | Lemmon SD | 1,158 | $50K | 22.0% | 5.1% | 38% | D− |
| 4,097 | Curtis Township MI | 1,145 | $39K | 16.3% | 2.1% | 8% | D− |
| 4,098 | Stamps AR | 1,181 | $37K | 25.8% | 13.9% | 14% | D− |
| 4,099 | Cripple Creek CO | 1,120 | $42K | 20.3% | 9.7% | 35% | D− |
| 4,100 | Griggsville IL | 1,047 | $37K | 23.4% | 4.4% | 5% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Stamps, 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 Stamps: questions
What is the median household income in Stamps?
$37,297 (±$8,525) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stamps?
25.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stamps?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stamps work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Magnolia (15%, 17 mi), Texarkana (5%, 29 mi), Lewisville (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stamps walkable?
Stamps is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stamps without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Stamps, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stamps
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.