Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Cotton Valley works elsewhere
Hardly any work in Cotton Valley itself; outside it, Minden draws the most (19%, 16 miles). 32 jobs are based in Cotton Valley for 288 working residents. Working residents average 29 minutes each way (Louisiana 26, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Cotton Valley, in brief
How many people are in Cotton Valley by day
On a workday 286 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 30 people come in from elsewhere.
About 490 people are in Cotton Valley on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Cotton Valley: the destinations
Where Cotton Valley clocks in
19% of workers
15% of workers
12% 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 kinds of work in Cotton Valley
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cotton Valley, 2014 → 2024: 47 → 32. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cotton Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Cotton Valley: about 29 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cotton Valley workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 191 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.
Where in the region Cotton Valley works
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Cotton Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Cotton Valley?
$36,316 (±$7,922) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cotton Valley?
24.8%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cotton Valley?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cotton Valley work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Minden (19%, 16 mi), Shreveport (15%, 32 mi), Springhill (12%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Cotton Valley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cotton Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cotton Valley
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.