Photo: Hot Furnace · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Ball (5.6%) is higher than in 69% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Ball is better than 41% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (A−). Only 3% stay in Ball for work; outside it, Alexandria is the main destination (38%, 9 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 20 minutes; Louisiana averages 26, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ball apart on work
Ball trades workers with the towns around it
Ball has about as many jobs (1,063) as working residents (1,252), but they are mostly different people: 1,209 residents leave for work each day while 1,020 people come in. Only 4% of the jobs in Ball are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
38% of Ball works in Alexandria
475 working residents, 38%, have their main job in Alexandria, 9.4 miles away. That’s 13 times as many as work in Ball itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Ball are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. Time on the road ↓
Many jobs in Ball pay little
26% of the jobs based in Ball pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 30% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. 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.
Ball’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Household income holds Ball’s grade up ($80,074, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ball could be anywhere from C− to A.
How a workday changes Ball
On a workday 1,209 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 1,020 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.85 per resident).
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 places Ball commutes to
Where Ball clocks in
38% of workers
12% of workers
3% 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 long Ball spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ball workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,465 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 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.
What Ball’s employers do
1,063 jobs are based in Ball.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ball, 2013 → 2023: 803 → 1,063. 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 Ball’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Ball commutes
About 26% 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 Ball, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, 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 1,545 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). 2.1% of Ball households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Ball’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ball is 2,503rd of 4,153 U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,100 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 290 | Hahnville LA | 3,520 | $101K | 6.7% | 0.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 747 | South Vacherie LA | 2,954 | $81K | 3.7% | 1.6% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 916 | Greenwood LA | 3,077 | $64K | 3.7% | 1.3% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,501 | Easton CA | 2,722 | $91K | 21.1% | 7.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,502 | Chandler IN | 3,960 | $75K | 12.2% | 6.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,503 | Ball LA | 3,793 | $80K | 10.9% | 5.6% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,504 | Corinth ME | 3,139 | $64K | 11.4% | 1.9% | 11% | C+ |
| 2,505 | Arcadia Township MI | 3,174 | $80K | 11.0% | 4.0% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,153 | 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 Ball, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
The towns next door employ 12% of Ball
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Pineville. Darker towns draw more of Ball’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 Ball: questions
What is the median household income in Ball?
$80,074 (±$13,198) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ball?
10.9%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ball?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ball work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alexandria (38%, 9 mi), Pineville (12%, 5 mi), Lafayette (3%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ball walkable?
Ball is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ball without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ball, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ball
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.