Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 1.9 jobs in Texarkana for every working resident, and 19,495 people commute in
The two grades for Texarkana are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Texarkana has 25,347 jobs, against 13,656 working residents. Measured by household income, Texarkana is behind 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Texarkana
Commutes from Texarkana are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 27 across Texas. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Texas worker. Time on the road ↓
Texarkana is where the jobs are
Texarkana has 25,347 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Many of the people who work in Texarkana live in another state
Texarkana, AR (13%) and Ashdown, AR (1%) are among the top places Texarkana’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 14% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
A lot of Texarkana workers cross into Arkansas
18% of Texarkana workers work outside Texas, most of them in Arkansas, the Census survey finds. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Texarkana’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Texarkana is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #501 of 642 in Texas. Job access by car holds Texarkana’s grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (22.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Texarkana could be anywhere from D to C.
The trip to work from Texarkana: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Texarkana workers work from home, vs 14% across Texas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,767 commuters (the 8% 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.
How many people are in Texarkana by day
On a workday 7,804 residents head out to work and 5,852 work right here.
About 48,000 people are in Texarkana on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.9 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.
Where Texarkana’s workers come from
Where Texarkana clocks in
11% 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 kinds of work in Texarkana
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Texarkana, 2013 → 2023: 27,071 → 25,347. 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 Texarkana’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Texarkana commutes
About 30% 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.
Few in Texarkana walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Texarkana is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #143 of 642 in Texas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.0% across Texas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,919 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). 11.3% of Texarkana households have no vehicle (Texas 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Texarkana’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 25,000 to 49,000, and where Texarkana sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Colleyville TX | 25,727 | $218K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Corinth TX | 25,297 | $121K | 3.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,124 | Hot Springs AR | 37,979 | $48K | 20.5% | 4.8% | 50% | C− |
| 1,125 | Carrollton GA | 27,925 | $54K | 25.4% | 5.2% | 30% | C− |
| 1,126 | Texarkana TX | 36,195 | $51K | 22.0% | 5.2% | 43% | C− |
| 1,127 | Walla Walla WA | 34,058 | $67K | 14.3% | 7.7% | 54% | C− |
| 1,128 | Twentynine Palms CA | 25,939 | $63K | 14.5% | 3.9% | 16% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,239 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Texarkana, the top three, the last and three more from Texas.
The towns around Texarkana
The biggest share goes to Nash (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Texarkana workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texarkana | – | C− | B+ | 15 min | $50,573 |
| Nash | 3% | C | B | 17 min | $50,592 |
| Wake Village | 1% | B | C | 20 min | $71,574 |
| Red Lick | under 1% | — | — | 17 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Red Lick: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Texarkana’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Texarkana: questions
What is the median household income in Texarkana?
$50,573 (±$5,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,476 across Texas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Texarkana?
22.0%, against 13.8% across Texas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Texarkana?
15 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Texas and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Texarkana work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Texarkana (11%, 6 mi), Nash (3%, 3 mi), Dallas (2%, 162 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Texarkana walkable?
Texarkana is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Texarkana without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Texarkana, from the people who make the trip.
More of Texarkana
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.