Photo: Gillfoto · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Tombstone earn less than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 15.5% of residents, against 12.5% across Arizona. For jobs and income Tombstone is better than 3% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in three work in Tombstone; the top destination outside it is Tucson (9%, 55 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Tombstone at work: what stands out
Tombstone’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Tombstone is Tucson, 55 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (34) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Tombstone is where the jobs are
Tombstone has 622 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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; with 366 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Tombstone’s Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate holds Tombstone’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($34,901, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.8%) is left out: Tombstone’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, Tombstone could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Tombstone
About 41% 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 daily commute in and out of Tombstone
On a workday 235 residents head out to work, 131 work right here, and 491 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Tombstone on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip into Tombstone
Where Tombstone clocks in
9% of workers
5% 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.
Jobs in Tombstone: what the 622 are
622 jobs are based in Tombstone.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tombstone, 2013 → 2023: 590 → 622. 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 Tombstone’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Tombstone
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tombstone workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 315 commuters (the 18% 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.
The commute in Tombstone is mostly behind the wheel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 382 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). 6.7% of Tombstone households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Tombstone’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tombstone and other U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 813 | Fort Valley AZ | 1,761 | $126K | 5.2% | 0.6% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 924 | Mountainaire AZ | 1,103 | $112K | 5.2% | 5.7% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,029 | Centennial Park AZ | 1,839 | $168K | 3.5% | 2.5% | 31% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,489 | Forest Township MI | 1,208 | $53K | 20.9% | 7.3% | 9% | D− |
| 5,490 | Fairlea WV | 1,312 | $24K | 27.6% | 2.4% | 9% | D− |
| 5,491 | Tombstone AZ | 1,376 | $35K | 15.5% | 0.8% | 36% | D− |
| 5,492 | Des Arc AR | 1,841 | $31K | 20.0% | 4.2% | 15% | D− |
| 5,493 | Augusta KY | 1,099 | $51K | 24.1% | 6.9% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Tombstone, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
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 Tombstone: questions
What is the median household income in Tombstone?
$34,901 (±$18,486) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tombstone?
15.5%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tombstone?
20 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tombstone work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tucson (9%, 55 mi), Sierra Vista (8%, 18 mi), Phoenix (5%, 173 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tombstone walkable?
Tombstone is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tombstone without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tombstone, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tombstone
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.