Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Wickes
The average commute takes 20 minutes each way; Arkansas averages 23, the U.S. 26. 1% of workers have no commute at all (Arkansas 9%). Only 7% stay in Wickes for work; outside it, De Queen is the main destination (12%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Wickes apart
How many miles Wickes commutes
About 37% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Wickes
On a workday 217 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 194 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 (0.90 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.
Out of Wickes to work: where people go
Where Wickes clocks in
12% of workers
8% of workers
6% 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.
Goods, not services: 47% of the jobs in Wickes
210 jobs are based in Wickes.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wickes, 2013 → 2023: 105 → 210. 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 Wickes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Wickes spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wickes workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 217 commuters (the 1% 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.
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 Wickes: questions
What is the median household income in Wickes?
$27,411 (±$3,660) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wickes?
41.4%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wickes?
20 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wickes work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are De Queen (12%, 18 mi), Grannis (8%, 4 mi), Mena (6%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wickes without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wickes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wickes
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.