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%). A relatively large number of people in Carthage telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 8.12% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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. One of the benefits of Carthage is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 16.77 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result. Carthage is a small city, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.The population of Carthage overall has a level of education that is slightly above the US average for all US cities and towns of 21.84%. Of adults 25 and older in Carthage, 23.03% 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.
