Carthage is a medium-sized city located in the state of Missouri. With a population of 15,556 people and three associated neighborhoods, Carthage is the 51st largest community in Missouri.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Carthage is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Carthage is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Carthage who work in office and administrative support (9.97%), maintenance occupations (8.79%), and teaching (8.68%). Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 8.12% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Carthage spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 16.77 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be. As is often the case in a small city, Carthage doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.The education level of Carthage citizens is a little higher than the average for US cities and towns: 23.03% of adults in Carthage have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Carthage in 2022 was $21,524, which is low income relative to Missouri and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $86,096 for a family of four. However, Carthage contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Carthage also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 32.96% of its population below the federal poverty line.Carthage is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Carthage home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Carthage residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Carthage also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 36.43% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Carthage include German, English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. The most common language spoken in Carthage is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Vietnamese.
