Patton House · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Wooster has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Wooster grades A− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Employers in Wooster report 86 jobs, and 414 of its residents work somewhere. Measured by household income, Wooster is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Wooster
Wooster and Conway trade workers both ways
Conway is the top workplace for Wooster residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Wooster come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Wooster is a place people come home to
There are 86 jobs based in Wooster, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Wooster has about 820 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 414 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Wooster’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Wooster is better than 82% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($111,667, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 54% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Wooster’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, Wooster could be anywhere from B to A.
32% of working residents work in Conway
Where Wooster clocks in
32% of workers
20% 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.
A workday in Wooster: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 412 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 84 people come in from elsewhere.
About 820 people are in Wooster on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Wooster makes things: 37% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wooster, 2013 → 2023: 55 → 86. 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 Wooster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Wooster spends getting to work: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wooster workers work from home, vs 9% across Arkansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 425 commuters (the 11% 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 from Wooster, by distance
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 of Wooster commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wooster is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Wooster 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 475 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). 0.0% of Wooster households have no vehicle (Arkansas 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wooster’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Wooster comes 372nd on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 370 | Riga Township MI | 1,489 | $86K | 2.3% | 1.2% | <1% | A− |
| 371 | Watts Township PA | 1,266 | $94K | 3.9% | 3.1% | 1% | A− |
| 372 | Wooster AR | 1,150 | $112K | 5.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A− |
| 373 | Valmeyer IL | 1,204 | $95K | 4.8% | 0.6% | 2% | A− |
| 374 | Santa Susana CA | 1,235 | $100K | 4.8% | 3.3% | <1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,170 | Redfield AR | 1,492 | $72K | 8.3% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,174 | Oak Grove Heights AR | 1,195 | $82K | 7.4% | 0.9% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Wooster, 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 Wooster: questions
What is the median household income in Wooster?
$111,667 (±$30,456) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,773 across Arkansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wooster?
5.8%, against 16.0% across Arkansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wooster?
23 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Arkansas and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wooster work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Conway (32%, 9 mi), Little Rock (20%, 33 mi), Greenbrier (8%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wooster walkable?
Wooster is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wooster without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wooster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wooster
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.