Photo: Marine 69-71 · CC BY-SA 4.0Whiteriver has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
42.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.5% across Arizona. Whiteriver grades D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Home is the office for 0% of workers, 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 Whiteriver apart on work
Whiteriver is where the jobs are
Whiteriver has 2,306 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Whiteriver is services
96% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Whiteriver’s workers comes from Pinetop-Lakeside
163 of the people who work in Whiteriver live in Pinetop-Lakeside, 21 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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 853 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Whiteriver’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Whiteriver is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #140 of 140 in Arizona. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Whiteriver’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Whiteriver could be anywhere from D− to D.
Whiteriver on a workday afternoon
On a workday 369 residents head out to work, 484 work right here, and 1,822 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,000 people are in Whiteriver on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
2.7 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.
Most jobs in Whiteriver are in services
2,306 jobs are based in Whiteriver.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Whiteriver, 2013 → 2023: 2,118 → 2,306. 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 Whiteriver’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Whiteriver: where workers come from
Where Whiteriver clocks in
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.
Getting to work from Whiteriver takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Whiteriver workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,106 commuters (the 1% 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.
Miles to work from Whiteriver
About 19% 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.
Most of Whiteriver commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Whiteriver is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns, #111 of 140 in Arizona. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 1,112 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). 23.8% of Whiteriver households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Whiteriver’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,100, and where Whiteriver sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 346 | Citrus Park AZ | 5,115 | $141K | 8.8% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 861 | Kachina Village AZ | 3,212 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 869 | St. Johns AZ | 3,336 | $132K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,854 | Goldendale WA | 3,528 | $40K | 29.7% | 14.0% | 31% | D− |
| 3,855 | Mills Township MI | 4,054 | $42K | 30.5% | 12.1% | 4% | D− |
| 3,856 | Whiteriver AZ | 4,545 | $37K | 42.2% | 9.7% | 57% | D− |
| 3,857 | Needles CA | 4,821 | $38K | 29.7% | 12.9% | 30% | D− |
| 3,858 | Tucumcari NM | 5,082 | $32K | 34.3% | 11.2% | 41% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,862 | 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 Whiteriver, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
Whiteriver and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Fort Apache (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Whiteriver workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whiteriver | – | D− | C− | 22 min | $37,440 |
| Rainbow City | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Turkey Creek | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Seven Mile | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| North Fork | under 2% | C+ | B− | 21 min | $123,313 |
| Fort Apache | 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Rainbow City, Turkey Creek, Seven Mile and Fort Apache: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Whiteriver’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 Whiteriver: questions
What is the median household income in Whiteriver?
$37,440 (±$13,071) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Whiteriver?
42.2%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Whiteriver?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Whiteriver work?
57% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hondah (8%, 18 mi), Cibecue (7%, 33 mi), Phoenix (5%, 124 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Whiteriver walkable?
Whiteriver is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Whiteriver without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Whiteriver, from the people who make the trip.
More of Whiteriver
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.