Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Clarksville ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
16.5% of residents live below the poverty line, where Texas as a whole has 13.8%. Measured by household income, Clarksville is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Clarksville grades D− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Clarksville apart
Clarksville trades workers with the towns around it
Clarksville has about as many jobs (1,295) as working residents (1,347), but they are mostly different people: 1,010 residents leave for work each day while 958 people come in. Only 26% of the jobs in Clarksville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Clarksville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Clarksville is Paris, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (173) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Clarksville workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Clarksville’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Clarksville
On income, poverty and job access, Clarksville is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #621 of 642 in Texas. The poverty rate holds Clarksville’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($33,014, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.5%) is left out: Clarksville’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, Clarksville could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Clarksville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,010 residents head out to work, 337 work right here, and 958 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 (0.96 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.
The commute from Clarksville, by distance
About 36% 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.
Jobs in Clarksville: what the 1,295 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarksville, 2013 → 2023: 1,301 → 1,295. 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 Clarksville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
13% of working residents work in Paris
Where Clarksville clocks in
Lines 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.
Getting to work from Clarksville takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarksville workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 570 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Texas: 83% 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.
Getting around Clarksville: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clarksville is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #204 of 642 in Texas. Both inputs place Clarksville 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 644 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). 5.4% of Clarksville households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clarksville’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900, and where Clarksville sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Taylor Lake Village TX | 3,774 | $166K | 0.0% | 0.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Hollywood Park TX | 3,140 | $138K | 2.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Talty TX | 3,299 | $155K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,616 | Newaygo MI | 2,547 | $41K | 19.9% | 5.5% | 13% | D− |
| 4,617 | Mahanoy City PA | 3,539 | $38K | 35.9% | 13.3% | 6% | D− |
| 4,618 | Clarksville TX | 2,908 | $33K | 16.5% | 7.5% | 25% | D− |
| 4,619 | Alturas CA | 2,634 | $60K | 18.0% | 11.9% | 56% | D− |
| 4,620 | Ellijay GA | 2,008 | $48K | 26.2% | 6.3% | 19% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Clarksville, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
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 Clarksville: questions
What is the median household income in Clarksville?
$33,014 (±$7,353) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarksville?
16.5%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarksville?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarksville work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Paris (13%, 28 mi), Dallas (3%, 114 mi), Hochatown (3%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarksville walkable?
Clarksville is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarksville 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 Clarksville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarksville
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.