Photo: Maureen Didde from Kansas City, MO, USA · CC BY 2.0Carthage has 1.5 jobs for every working resident: 6,818 people commute in to work
Jobs & income C: better than 27% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #158 of 247 in Missouri.
Walkability B: more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns · #113 of 247 in Missouri.
Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 16 minutes each way (Missouri 24, U.S. 26). About one in three work in Carthage; the top destination outside it is Joplin (21%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Carthage
Carthage is where the jobs are
Carthage has 8,604 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Carthage are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Carthage and Joplin trade workers both ways
Joplin is the top workplace for Carthage residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Carthage come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
What’s behind Carthage’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carthage is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #158 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Carthage’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (27.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carthage could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Carthage fills up on a workday
On a workday 3,867 residents head out to work, 1,786 work right here, and 6,818 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Carthage on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Missouri
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carthage workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,957 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Where Carthage’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Carthage clocks in
21% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Carthage makes things: 31% of its jobs are in goods
8,604 jobs are based in Carthage. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Carthage’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carthage, 2013 → 2023: 6,446 → 8,604. 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.
Half of Carthage commutes less than 11 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 21% 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.
Most trips from Carthage start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carthage is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns, #113 of 247 in Missouri. Both inputs place Carthage 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 6,373 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). 8.6% of Carthage households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Carthage’s commuters take a bus or train.
Carthage is 1,723rd of 2,109 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Carthage, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Dardenne Prairie MO | 15,032 | $153K | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Crestwood MO | 12,207 | $107K | 5.5% | 1.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,721 | Lealman FL | 20,567 | $45K | 15.6% | 7.2% | 3% | C |
| 1,722 | Cañon City CO | 17,030 | $65K | 13.4% | 4.2% | 35% | C |
| 1,723 | Carthage MO | 15,895 | $51K | 27.2% | 3.2% | 32% | C |
| 1,724 | LaSalle Township IL | 13,152 | $61K | 16.1% | 5.3% | 14% | C |
| 1,725 | Liberal KS | 19,010 | $64K | 13.1% | 5.2% | 65% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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.
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 Carthage: questions
What is the median household income in Carthage?
$51,328 (±$4,694) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carthage?
27.2%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carthage?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carthage work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Joplin (21%, 11 mi), Springfield (5%, 57 mi), Webb City (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carthage walkable?
Carthage is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carthage without a car?
<1% 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 Carthage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carthage
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.