White Castle ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Below the poverty line: 60.4% of residents (Louisiana 18.9%). For jobs and income White Castle is better than 9% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where White Castle stands out on work
Income, poverty and work: White Castle’s grade explained
Job access by car holds White Castle’s grade up (ahead of 55% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($18,750, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (23.1%) is left out: White Castle’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, White Castle stays D.
Who commutes out of White Castle, and who commutes in
On a workday 623 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 119 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in White Castle on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.23 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.
20% of working residents work in Baton Rouge
Where White Castle clocks in
20% of workers
8% 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.
What work there is in White Castle: 154 jobs
154 jobs are based in White Castle.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in White Castle, 2013 → 2023: 207 → 154. 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 White Castle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from White Castle: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of White Castle workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 469 commuters (the 3% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from White Castle
About 16% 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.
Getting around White Castle: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.4% 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 484 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). 27.4% of White Castle households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of White Castle’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100, White Castle comes 4,896th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Bayou Gauche LA | 1,908 | $163K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 250 | Montz LA | 2,074 | $92K | 4.7% | 0.2% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 364 | Presquille LA | 2,062 | $112K | 1.1% | 14.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,894 | Montegut LA | 1,266 | $57K | 25.3% | 5.4% | 2% | D |
| 4,895 | Stevenson AL | 2,000 | $54K | 17.0% | 5.4% | 10% | D |
| 4,896 | White Castle LA | 1,585 | $19K | 60.4% | 23.1% | 5% | D |
| 4,897 | Fayette OH | 1,278 | $50K | 24.5% | 1.9% | 4% | D |
| 4,898 | Latta SC | 1,235 | $48K | 22.4% | 13.4% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 White Castle, 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 White Castle: questions
What is the median household income in White Castle?
$18,750 (±$4,506) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in White Castle?
60.4%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from White Castle?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in White Castle work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baton Rouge (20%, 19 mi), Plaquemine (8%, 10 mi), Gonzales (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is White Castle walkable?
White Castle is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around White Castle without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 27% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from White Castle, from the people who make the trip.
More of White Castle
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.