St. Mary's Assumption Church · Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 3.0Cottonport ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
The two grades for Cottonport are D− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Measured by household income, Cottonport is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 27.4% of residents live below the poverty line, where Louisiana as a whole has 18.9%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Cottonport apart on work
The jobs in Cottonport pay better than its residents’ jobs
67% of the jobs based in Cottonport pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 41% of the jobs Cottonport residents hold. 93% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Cottonport. The jobs ↓
Cottonport has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Cottonport went from 386 in 2014 to 660 in 2024, +71%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 499 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Cottonport’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Cottonport is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Cottonport’s grade.
Unemployment (6.2%) is left out: Cottonport’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, Cottonport could be anywhere from D− to D.
67% of the jobs in Cottonport pay over $3,333 a month
660 jobs are based in Cottonport.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cottonport, 2014 → 2024: 386 → 660. 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 Cottonport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Cottonport
About 31% 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.
Who commutes out of Cottonport, and who commutes in
On a workday 456 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 617 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 (1.32 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
17% of working residents work in Marksville
Where Cottonport clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
From Cottonport, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cottonport workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 636 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.
Most trips from Cottonport start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cottonport is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 641 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). 7.6% of Cottonport households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cottonport’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Cottonport sits among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Bayou Gauche LA | 1,908 | $163K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 273 | Montz LA | 2,074 | $92K | 4.7% | 0.2% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Des Allemands LA | 2,382 | $88K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,731 | Richgrove CA | 1,960 | $45K | 32.8% | 11.6% | 1% | D− |
| 5,732 | York AL | 2,233 | $30K | 39.5% | 4.3% | 8% | D− |
| 5,733 | Cottonport LA | 1,916 | $32K | 27.4% | 6.2% | 9% | D− |
| 5,734 | Shaw MS | 1,337 | $30K | 37.5% | 8.7% | 6% | D− |
| 5,735 | Charleston MS | 1,688 | $37K | 27.1% | 12.7% | 23% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Cottonport, 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 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 Cottonport: questions
What is the median household income in Cottonport?
$31,875 (±$8,306) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cottonport?
27.4%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cottonport?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cottonport work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marksville (17%, 10 mi), Alexandria (6%, 32 mi), Mansura (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Cottonport walkable?
Cottonport is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cottonport without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cottonport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cottonport
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. 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.