Work & commute · Portia

Work & commute in Portia, AR

Most working residents leave Portia for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Walnut Ridge (28%), Jonesboro (20%) and Pocahontas (6%). Half commute less than 26 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

4 of 120 working residents

Typical commute

26 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 116 Portia residents head out of town to work, 4 work right here, and 119 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portia.

116live here, work elsewhere

4live and work here

119work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portia goes to work

Walnut Ridge6.9 mi away

28%33

Jonesboro28.6 mi away

20%24

Pocahontas13.5 mi away

6%7

Paragould31.4 mi away

5%6

Little Rock118.7 mi away

4%5

Portia (in town)right here

3%4

Hoxie6.4 mi away

3%3

Trumann41.5 mi away

2%2

Searcy69.2 mi away

2%2

North Little Rock111.4 mi away

2%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

27%32

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Portia commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

38%

31%

21%

38%Under 10 mi

9%10–24 mi

31%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portia is balanced between jobs and homes

1.03jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.03 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Portia are

123 jobs are based in Portia. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portia’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Portia

123 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month52%

Over $3,333 a month27%

Jobs Portia residents hold

120 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month41%

Over $3,333 a month44%

+19%

Jobs based in Portia, 2013 → 2023: 103 → 123. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.