Photo: ONUnicorn · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Jonesboro have lower incomes than those in 92% of U.S. towns
16.3% of residents live below the poverty line; Indiana has 12.3%. Jonesboro grades C− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Hardly any work in Jonesboro itself; outside it, Marion draws the most (36%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Jonesboro apart
Jonesboro and Marion trade workers both ways
Marion is the top workplace for Jonesboro residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Jonesboro come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Jonesboro is a place people come home to
There are 133 jobs based in Jonesboro, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Jonesboro has about 1,000 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Jonesboro workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Jonesboro’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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 612 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jonesboro’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Jonesboro is better than 18% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Jonesboro’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($45,833, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.7%) 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+.
Out of Jonesboro to work: where people go
Where Jonesboro clocks in
36% of workers
15% of workers
6% 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.
How many people are in Jonesboro by day
On a workday 607 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 128 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Jonesboro on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.22 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.
Goods, not services: 29% of the jobs in Jonesboro
133 jobs are based in Jonesboro.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jonesboro, 2013 → 2023: 51 → 133. 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.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Jonesboro
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jonesboro workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 663 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% 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.
Half of Jonesboro commutes less than 7 miles
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.
Getting around Jonesboro: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jonesboro is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 711 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 (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jonesboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jonesboro is 3,862nd of 5,397 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Meridian Hills IN | 1,800 | $212K | 0.8% | 3.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Galena IN | 1,549 | $128K | 1.8% | 4.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Ogden Dunes IN | 1,163 | $117K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,860 | Banner Hill TN | 1,211 | $60K | 28.4% | 10.3% | 1% | C− |
| 3,861 | Point Roberts WA | 1,288 | $78K | 14.9% | 2.4% | 32% | C− |
| 3,862 | Jonesboro IN | 1,510 | $46K | 16.3% | 7.7% | 1% | C− |
| 3,863 | Lykens PA | 1,856 | $73K | 23.0% | 3.7% | 5% | C− |
| 3,864 | Dick Johnson Township IN | 1,321 | $63K | 18.1% | 0.0% | <1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | 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 Indiana.
Next door is work for 15% of Jonesboro
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Gas City. 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?
$45,833 (±$7,933) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jonesboro?
16.3%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jonesboro?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jonesboro work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marion (36%, 5 mi), Gas City (15%, 2 mi), Indianapolis (6%, 56 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jonesboro walkable?
Jonesboro is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jonesboro without a car?
0% 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.