Corduroy Creek Bridge · Photo: Clayton B. Fraser · Public domainMost of Wagon Wheel commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
There are 314 jobs in Wagon Wheel; 690 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Wagon Wheel is better than 35% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (C). 8% of workers have no commute at all, next to 18% for Arizona as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Wagon Wheel apart on work
A lot of Wagon Wheel works one town over
43% of working residents work in a town that borders Wagon Wheel: Show Low (34%) and Pinetop-Lakeside (9%). Next door ↓
Commutes from Wagon Wheel are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 25 across Arizona. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arizona worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 690 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Wagon Wheel
The poverty rate holds Wagon Wheel’s grade up (7.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down.
Unemployment (5.8%) is left out: Wagon Wheel’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Wagon Wheel could be anywhere from D to B.
Wagon Wheel’s commute takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wagon Wheel workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 640 commuters (the 8% 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.
How many miles Wagon Wheel commutes
About 30% 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.
How many people are in Wagon Wheel by day
On a workday 669 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 293 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Wagon Wheel on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
34% of working residents work in Show Low
Where Wagon Wheel clocks in
34% of workers
9% of workers
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.
The kinds of work in Wagon Wheel
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wagon Wheel, 2013 → 2023: 365 → 314. 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 Wagon Wheel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Wagon Wheel is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 694 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.4% of Wagon Wheel households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wagon Wheel’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,060th of 5,760: where Wagon Wheel ranks among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 916 | Fort Valley AZ | 1,761 | $126K | 5.2% | 0.6% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,130 | Centennial Park AZ | 1,839 | $168K | 3.5% | 2.5% | 31% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,152 | Bellemont AZ | 1,701 | $120K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,058 | Bloomfield Township OH | 1,233 | $74K | 13.2% | 1.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 3,059 | Madison Township PA | 1,570 | $77K | 14.8% | 5.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 3,060 | Wagon Wheel AZ | 1,716 | $68K | 7.8% | 5.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 3,061 | Kingsley IA | 1,373 | $73K | 10.0% | 0.5% | 10% | C+ |
| 3,062 | Slayton MN | 1,930 | $62K | 14.3% | 1.8% | 32% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Wagon Wheel, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
43% of Wagon Wheel works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Show Low (34%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wagon Wheel workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wagon Wheel | – | C+ | C | 16 min | $68,495 |
| Show Low | 34% | C− | B | 19 min | $60,368 |
| Pinetop-Lakeside | 9% | C− | B | 24 min | $60,694 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wagon Wheel’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 Wagon Wheel: questions
What is the median household income in Wagon Wheel?
$68,495 (±$9,817) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wagon Wheel?
7.8%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wagon Wheel?
16 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wagon Wheel work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Show Low (34%, 5 mi), Pinetop-Lakeside (9%, 5 mi), Phoenix (7%, 126 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wagon Wheel walkable?
Wagon Wheel is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wagon Wheel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wagon Wheel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wagon Wheel
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.