Clarks has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Measured by household income, Clarks is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The poverty rate is 29.2%, where Louisiana as a whole has 18.9%. Clarks grades D− for jobs and income and D− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Clarks: the gist
Clarks is a place people come home to
There are 82 jobs based in Clarks, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 282 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Clarks’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Clarks is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Clarks’ grade.
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Clarks’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, Clarks could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Who works in Clarks, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 277 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 77 people come in from elsewhere.
About 830 people are in Clarks on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.29 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.
The commute from Clarks, by distance
About 32% 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.
13% of working residents work in Columbia
Where Clarks clocks in
13% of workers
8% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
82 jobs are based in Clarks.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarks, 2013 → 2023: 1 → 82. 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 Clarks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Clarks spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarks workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 202 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.
Driving is how Clarks gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clarks is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Clarks near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 205 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). 8.7% of Clarks households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clarks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Where Clarks sits among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 734 | Watson LA | 1,357 | $97K | 17.2% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 744 | Egan LA | 1,015 | $93K | 10.3% | 6.9% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 953 | Choudrant LA | 1,032 | $73K | 8.1% | 0.5% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,073 | Farmersville NY | 1,073 | $48K | 40.6% | 8.5% | 1% | D− |
| 3,074 | Mammoth AZ | 1,149 | $47K | 29.0% | 17.6% | 3% | D− |
| 3,075 | Clarks LA | 1,034 | $28K | 29.2% | 3.8% | 2% | D− |
| 3,076 | Goodman MS | 1,219 | $15K | 59.0% | 19.5% | 1% | D− |
| 3,077 | Mount Ida AR | 1,005 | $37K | 32.6% | 6.7% | 20% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Clarks, 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 Clarks: questions
What is the median household income in Clarks?
$28,056 (±$6,125) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarks?
29.2%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarks?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarks work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (13%, 6 mi), Banks Springs (10%, 5 mi), Monroe (8%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarks walkable?
Clarks is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarks without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clarks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarks
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.