Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Texarkana trail those of 92% of U.S. towns
The average commute takes 17 minutes each way, next to 23 for Arkansas and 26 for the U.S. The poverty rate is 25.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas. Texarkana grades 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 Texarkana: the gist
Many Texarkana workers cross into Texas
50% of Texarkana workers work outside Arkansas, most of them in Texas, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Many of the people who work in Texarkana live in another state
Texarkana, TX (14%), Wake Village, TX (2%) and Nash, TX (1%) are among the top places Texarkana’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 18% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Texarkana trades workers with the towns around it
Texarkana has about as many jobs (10,611) as working residents (10,943), but they are mostly different people: 7,964 residents leave for work each day while 7,632 people come in. Only 28% of the jobs in Texarkana are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Texarkana and Texarkana trade workers both ways
Texarkana is the top workplace for Texarkana residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Texarkana come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Texarkana residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
What’s behind Texarkana’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Texarkana is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #83 of 123 in Arkansas. Job access by car holds Texarkana’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Texarkana could be anywhere from D to C−.
31% of working residents work in Texarkana
Where Texarkana clocks in
31% of workers
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.
The daily commute in and out of Texarkana
On a workday 7,964 residents head out to work, 2,979 work right here, and 7,632 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 (0.97 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.
Half of Texarkana commutes less than 5 miles
About 22% 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.
Goods, not services: 31% of the jobs in Texarkana
10,611 jobs are based in Texarkana.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Texarkana, 2013 → 2023: 9,878 → 10,611. 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 Texarkana’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 17 minutes each way for Texarkana’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Texarkana workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,143 commuters (the 4% 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 Texarkana, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Texarkana is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #44 of 123 in Arkansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% 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 11,548 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). 10.6% of Texarkana households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Texarkana’s commuters take a bus or train.
Texarkana next to U.S. towns of 20,000 to 39,000
| # | 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 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Centerton AR | 27,176 | $116K | 5.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 434 | Bryant AR | 22,815 | $83K | 5.6% | 2.6% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 605 | Bella Vista AR | 34,518 | $88K | 3.6% | 4.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,428 | Port Huron MI | 28,273 | $50K | 22.6% | 8.9% | 23% | D |
| 1,429 | Sandusky OH | 24,001 | $50K | 25.6% | 7.8% | 25% | D |
| 1,430 | Texarkana AR | 29,123 | $46K | 25.8% | 7.5% | 27% | D |
| 1,431 | Lima OH | 34,695 | $46K | 23.9% | 8.5% | 27% | D |
| 1,432 | Ponca City OK | 24,225 | $56K | 17.9% | 6.9% | 39% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Texarkana, 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 Texarkana: questions
What is the median household income in Texarkana?
$45,835 (±$4,200) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Texarkana?
25.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Texarkana?
17 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Texarkana work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Texarkana (31%, 6 mi), Little Rock (3%, 129 mi), Nash (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Texarkana walkable?
Texarkana is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Texarkana without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Texarkana, from the people who make the trip.
More of Texarkana
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.