Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0For about two in five of its working residents, Van Buren is a commute to Fort Smith
For jobs and income Van Buren is better than 33% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (B−). Measured by household income, Van Buren is behind 72% of U.S. towns. Commuters spend 20 minutes getting to work on average; Arkansas averages 23, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Van Buren: the gist
42% of Van Buren works in Fort Smith
3,877 working residents, 42%, have their main job in Fort Smith, 7.1 miles away across the town line. That’s more than work in Van Buren itself. The commute map ↓
Most Van Buren 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 ↓
Van Buren makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Van Buren are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Van Buren residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. 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.
Jobs & income in Van Buren: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Van Buren’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Van Buren could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Where the trip to work from Van Buren ends
Where Van Buren clocks in
42% of workers
2% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Van Buren
About 19% 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 jobs make up 37% of work in Van Buren
12,291 jobs are based in Van Buren.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Buren, 2013 → 2023: 13,568 → 12,291. 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 Van Buren’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Van Buren by day and by night
On a workday 7,159 residents head out to work, 2,088 work right here, and 10,203 people come in from elsewhere.
About 28,000 people are in Van Buren on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 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.
Time on the road from Van Buren: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Van Buren workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,887 commuters (the 3% 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.
The commute in Van Buren is mostly behind the wheel
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,227 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). 5.6% of Van Buren households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Van Buren’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 17,000 to 33,000, Van Buren ranks 1,328th of 1,642 on jobs and income
| # | 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− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,326 | Spanish Lake MO | 17,873 | $56K | 14.8% | 7.2% | 2% | C |
| 1,327 | Sevierville TN | 19,010 | $52K | 15.4% | 4.4% | 27% | C |
| 1,328 | Van Buren AR | 24,556 | $61K | 15.3% | 5.1% | 23% | C |
| 1,329 | Clinton IA | 24,049 | $60K | 18.5% | 3.7% | 46% | C |
| 1,330 | Laplace LA | 28,343 | $69K | 13.1% | 10.1% | 12% | 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 Van Buren, the top three, the last and three more from Arkansas.
Work next door: 42% of Van Buren’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Van Buren workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Van Buren | – | C | B− | 20 min | $61,149 |
| Fort Smith | 42% | C− | B | 17 min | $54,816 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fort Smith. Darker towns draw more of Van Buren’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 Van Buren: questions
What is the median household income in Van Buren?
$61,149 (±$3,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Buren?
15.3%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Buren?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Van Buren work?
23% work in town.
Is Van Buren walkable?
Van Buren is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Van Buren without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Van Buren, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Buren
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.