Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Carrollton are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 23.5% of residents, next to 12.6% for Missouri as a whole. Jobs and income earn Carrollton D; getting around on foot earns it A. For 3% of workers, the job is at home, against 13% across Missouri.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Carrollton and work: the main findings
Commutes from Carrollton are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Carrollton workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Why Carrollton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carrollton is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #232 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Carrollton’s grade up (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carrollton could be anywhere from D− to C+.
From Carrollton, about 17 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carrollton workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,242 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% 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.
Miles to work from Carrollton
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.
Who works in Carrollton, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 960 residents head out to work, 608 work right here, and 915 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 (0.97 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
6% of working residents work in Kansas City
Where Carrollton clocks in
6% of workers
4% 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 1,523 jobs based in Carrollton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carrollton, 2013 → 2023: 1,612 → 1,523. 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 Carrollton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Carrollton is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,286 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). 5.1% of Carrollton households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carrollton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Carrollton compares with U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | St. Paul MO | 3,849 | $159K | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Clarkson Valley MO | 2,540 | $247K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 185 | Frontenac MO | 3,790 | $233K | 2.0% | 4.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,189 | Lake of the Woods AZ | 3,250 | $56K | 12.8% | 15.3% | 5% | D |
| 4,190 | Darlington WI | 2,490 | $57K | 22.1% | 8.0% | 19% | D |
| 4,191 | Carrollton MO | 3,499 | $50K | 23.5% | 5.2% | 39% | D |
| 4,192 | Grafton WV | 4,529 | $40K | 24.9% | 7.4% | 15% | D |
| 4,193 | Nicholson MS | 3,146 | $50K | 25.4% | 12.2% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Carrollton, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
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 Carrollton: questions
What is the median household income in Carrollton?
$49,777 (±$14,631) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carrollton?
23.5%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carrollton?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carrollton work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (6%, 59 mi), Marshall (4%, 23 mi), Chillicothe (4%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carrollton walkable?
Carrollton is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carrollton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carrollton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carrollton
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.