Noel has lower household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 27.2% of residents, next to 12.6% across Missouri. For jobs and income Noel is better than 2% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (D−). 1% of workers work from home (Missouri 13%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Noel
Noel is where the jobs are
Noel has 2,097 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,500 people are in town, 62% more than the 2,200 who live here. Day and night ↓
Noel makes and builds things
79% of the jobs based in Noel are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Noel residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 52%. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Noel’s workers comes from Neosho
202 of the people who work in Noel live in Neosho, 22 miles away, more than from any other town. 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; with 743 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Noel
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Noel’s grade.
Unemployment (8.6%) is left out: Noel’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, Noel could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who leaves Noel for work, and who comes in
On a workday 515 residents head out to work, 228 work right here, and 1,869 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Noel on a workday afternoon, 62% more than live here.
2.8 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.
A place that makes things: 79% of Noel’s jobs are in goods
2,097 jobs are based in Noel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Noel, 2013 → 2023: 206 → 2,097. 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 Noel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Noel live
Where Noel clocks in
16% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
About 17 minutes to work from Noel
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Noel workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 729 commuters (the 1% 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.
The commute from Noel, by distance
About 18% 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.
Noel is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 735 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). 8.7% of Noel households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Noel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Noel and other U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 51 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,178 | Warrenton GA | 1,926 | $34K | 30.1% | 10.0% | 11% | D− |
| 5,179 | Kentwood LA | 2,217 | $31K | 35.3% | 8.1% | 11% | D− |
| 5,180 | Noel MO | 2,181 | $41K | 27.2% | 8.6% | 31% | D− |
| 5,181 | Sparta NC | 1,918 | $42K | 21.5% | 2.7% | 27% | D− |
| 5,182 | Kirbyville TX | 2,031 | $43K | 23.7% | 10.5% | 19% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Noel, 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 Noel: questions
What is the median household income in Noel?
$41,483 (±$6,590) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Noel?
27.2%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Noel?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Noel work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Southwest City (16%, 7 mi), Bentonville (4%, 19 mi), Rogers (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Noel walkable?
Noel is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Noel without a car?
0% 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 Noel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Noel
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.