Photo: Marine 69-71 · CC BY-SA 4.0At 7.4%, unemployment in Parker is higher than in 85% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 12% of workers, against 18% across Arizona. The two grades for Parker are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four work in Parker; the top destination outside it is Phoenix (7%, 127 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Parker in brief
Commutes from Parker are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 25 across Arizona. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arizona worker. Time on the road ↓
Parker trades workers with the towns around it
Parker has about as many jobs (1,618) as working residents (1,765), but they are mostly different people: 1,262 residents leave for work each day while 1,115 people come in. Only 31% of the jobs in Parker are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Parker residents work close to home
63% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. 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.
How Parker earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Parker is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #105 of 140 in Arizona. Household income holds Parker’s grade up ($66,273, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 9% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Parker could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Time on the road from Parker: about 11 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parker workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,425 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% 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.
A workday in Parker: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,262 residents head out to work, 503 work right here, and 1,115 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 (0.92 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.
Miles to work from Parker
About 27% 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.
Out of Parker to work: where people go
Where Parker clocks in
7% 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.
What work there is in Parker: 1,618 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parker, 2013 → 2023: 1,619 → 1,618. 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 Parker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Parker, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Parker is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #18 of 140 in Arizona. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.9% across Arizona.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,615 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). 3.8% of Parker households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Parker’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Parker is 3,789th among 4,402 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 874 | Kachina Village AZ | 3,212 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 884 | St. Johns AZ | 3,336 | $132K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,248 | Clifton AZ | 3,752 | $78K | 2.5% | 0.8% | 8% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,787 | Cache OK | 3,239 | $66K | 16.5% | 9.5% | 11% | D |
| 3,788 | Saluda SC | 3,086 | $43K | 43.9% | 3.7% | 8% | D |
| 3,789 | Parker AZ | 3,394 | $66K | 12.7% | 7.4% | 28% | D |
| 3,790 | Baxter Springs KS | 3,823 | $51K | 24.3% | 5.6% | 22% | D |
| 3,791 | Vassar MI | 2,685 | $59K | 14.8% | 10.9% | 9% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Parker, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
How Parker compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Bluewater (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Parker workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker | – | D | A− | 11 min | $66,273 |
| Bluewater | 5% | — | — | 9 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bluewater: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Parker’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 Parker: questions
What is the median household income in Parker?
$66,273 (±$13,720) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parker?
12.7%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parker?
11 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parker work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (7%, 127 mi), Bluewater (5%, 10 mi), Lake Havasu City (3%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parker walkable?
Parker is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parker without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parker
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.