Government gathers all these numbers …

…and then tries to make them fit into categories that oftentimes don’t make sense.

Clarkedale, Arkansas, is an example.

Clarkesdale’s 2010 population was 371. It is a small town.

The people have to fit into government categories, because … Well, the government said so.

Of those 371 people, 216 were employed, in these areas, ranked top to bottom: educational services; health care and social assistance; transportation and warehousing; agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting; retail trade; construction; public administration; manufacturing; finance and insurance; professional, scientific tech services; admin, support, waste management; real estate, rental, leasing; and wholesale trade.

The most common country of origin: Mexico, Russia, Costa Rico.

Citizenship: 100 percent U.S.

Most common non-English language: French, French Creole, Spanish.

Degrees awarded: 744 – 53.9% from Arkansas Northeastern College; 46.1% from Mid-South Community College.

Median household income: $85,000, with the largest share of households at $75,000 to $100,000.

Median property value: $205,000.

http://datausa.io/profile/geo/clarkedale-ar/#demographics

Here is a satellite view: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.3092804,-90.2364441,555m/data=!3m1!1e3

Looks like one church, a dozen houses and 12 grain silos in the town itself, surrounded by miles and miles of fields, probably soybeans and some rice.

The numbers just don’t seem to match the ground.