Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Oakley (2.5%) is lower than in 77% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute from Oakley lasts 17 minutes (Kansas 20, U.S. 26). For jobs and income Oakley is better than 36% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in three work in Oakley; the top destination outside it is Colby (9%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Oakley’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Oakley’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oakley could be anywhere from D to B.
Who leaves Oakley for work, and who comes in
On a workday 584 residents head out to work, 325 work right here, and 659 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.08 per resident).
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 Oakley’s working residents head each day
Where Oakley clocks in
9% 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.
Inside Oakley’s 984 jobs
984 jobs are based in Oakley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakley, 2013 → 2023: 1,219 → 984. 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 Oakley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Oakley: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakley workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 988 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% 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.
Miles to work from Oakley
About 29% 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.
Getting around Oakley: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across Kansas, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,067 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). 3.9% of Oakley households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oakley’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,051st of 5,509: where Oakley ranks among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Oxford Township KS | 2,058 | $163K | 1.9% | 2.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,049 | Stateburg SC | 2,027 | $66K | 11.1% | 7.3% | <1% | C+ |
| 3,050 | Mangonia Park FL | 2,667 | $61K | 13.9% | 7.5% | 2% | C+ |
| 3,051 | Oakley KS | 1,974 | $77K | 16.2% | 2.5% | 36% | C+ |
| 3,052 | Fulton TX | 1,647 | $56K | 7.9% | 5.0% | 5% | C+ |
| 3,053 | Marissa Township IL | 2,149 | $68K | 11.5% | 9.8% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Oakley, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
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 Oakley: questions
What is the median household income in Oakley?
$77,065 (±$12,025) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakley?
16.2%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakley?
17 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakley work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Colby (9%, 21 mi), Winona Township (6%, 21 mi), Winona (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oakley walkable?
Oakley is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oakley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakley
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.