Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Jonesboro trail those of 76% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 20.9% of residents, against 11.8% across Illinois. For jobs and income Jonesboro is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (B+). Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers (Illinois 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Jonesboro in brief
Jonesboro and Anna trade workers both ways
Anna is the top workplace for Jonesboro residents (20%) and also where the most people who work in Jonesboro come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Jonesboro are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Jonesboro workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 704 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Jonesboro’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Jonesboro’s grade up (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Jonesboro’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, Jonesboro could be anywhere from D to C.
20% of working residents work in Anna
Where Jonesboro clocks in
20% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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 trip to work from Jonesboro: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jonesboro workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 806 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who leaves Jonesboro for work, and who comes in
On a workday 664 residents head out to work, 40 work right here, and 368 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Jonesboro on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.58 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
In Jonesboro, services account for most jobs
408 jobs are based in Jonesboro.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jonesboro, 2013 → 2023: 409 → 408. 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 Jonesboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Jonesboro commutes less than 19 miles
About 24% 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.
In Jonesboro, the car does most of the work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 840 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). 4.9% of Jonesboro households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Jonesboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Jonesboro is 4,751st among 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,749 | Wysox Township PA | 1,545 | $60K | 13.0% | 7.8% | 12% | D |
| 4,750 | Jackson WI | 1,183 | $60K | 15.9% | 5.3% | 1% | D |
| 4,751 | Jonesboro IL | 1,635 | $59K | 20.9% | 1.3% | 6% | D |
| 4,752 | Marion KS | 1,897 | $58K | 11.1% | 0.0% | 31% | D |
| 4,753 | Royalton MN | 1,274 | $55K | 26.7% | 11.1% | 4% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | 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 Jonesboro, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
20% of Jonesboro works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Anna. Darker towns draw more of Jonesboro’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 Jonesboro: questions
What is the median household income in Jonesboro?
$58,500 (±$17,218) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jonesboro?
20.9%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jonesboro?
17 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jonesboro work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Anna (20%, 2 mi), Carbondale (9%, 19 mi), Marion (4%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jonesboro walkable?
Jonesboro is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jonesboro without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jonesboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jonesboro
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.