Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Benton draws 4,287 commuters a day, with 5.0 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Benton C; getting around on foot earns it C. Benton has 4,398 jobs, against 883 working residents. Measured by household income, Benton is behind 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Benton in brief
Benton fills up on a workday
Benton has 4,398 jobs, 5.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 5,600 people are in town, more than double the 2,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
Jobs in Benton have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Benton went from 1,095 in 2013 to 4,398 in 2023, +302%. The jobs ↓
One in three of Benton works in Shreveport
283 working residents, 32%, have their main job in Shreveport, 16 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Benton itself. 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 883 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Benton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Benton is better than 31% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Benton’s grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Benton could be anywhere from D to B.
Benton by day and by night
On a workday 772 residents head out to work and 111 work right here.
About 5,600 people are in Benton on a workday afternoon, 166% more 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Benton, 2013 → 2023: 1,095 → 4,398. 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 Benton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Benton: where workers come from
Where Benton clocks in
32% of workers
26% of workers
2% 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Benton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benton workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,173 commuters (the 1% 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.
How far Benton’s workers travel
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.
Benton is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Benton is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 4.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,186 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). 11.6% of Benton households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Benton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Benton is 3,341st among 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Bayou Gauche LA | 1,908 | $163K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 272 | Montz LA | 2,074 | $92K | 4.7% | 0.2% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 420 | Des Allemands LA | 2,382 | $88K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,339 | Washington Township PA | 1,845 | $69K | 11.5% | 2.8% | 2% | C |
| 3,340 | Barton VT | 2,732 | $66K | 10.2% | 3.9% | 25% | C |
| 3,341 | Benton LA | 2,118 | $58K | 23.9% | 4.1% | 13% | C |
| 3,342 | Edgerton OH | 1,882 | $45K | 15.2% | 3.0% | 16% | C |
| 3,343 | Meyersdale PA | 1,986 | $66K | 10.0% | 4.3% | 8% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Benton, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
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 Benton: questions
What is the median household income in Benton?
$58,143 (±$8,011) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benton?
23.9%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benton work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Shreveport (32%, 16 mi), Bossier City (26%, 12 mi), Minden (2%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Benton walkable?
Benton is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Benton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Benton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benton
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.