Photo: Kaethesson · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Oswego have lower incomes than those in 83% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Oswego are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 22.8% of residents are in poverty; Kansas has 11.3%. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers; Kansas has 12%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Income, poverty and work: Oswego’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Oswego is better than 6% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Oswego’s grade.
Unemployment (9.9%) is left out: Oswego’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Oswego could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who works in Oswego, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 493 residents head out to work, 164 work right here, and 342 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 (0.77 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.
20% of working residents work in Parsons
Where Oswego clocks in
20% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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 Oswego’s 506 jobs
506 jobs are based in Oswego.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oswego, 2013 → 2023: 448 → 506. 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 Oswego’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Oswego spends getting to work: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oswego workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 681 commuters (the 4% 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.
The commute from Oswego, by distance
About 21% 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.
In Oswego, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oswego is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Oswego near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 709 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). 3.1% of Oswego households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oswego’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oswego places 5,461st of 6,161 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Oxford Township KS | 2,058 | $163K | 1.9% | 2.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Lexington Township KS | 1,512 | $135K | 0.0% | 2.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Westwood KS | 1,720 | $118K | 1.9% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,459 | Union Township MO | 2,179 | $54K | 17.2% | 3.9% | 13% | D |
| 5,460 | Monarch Mill SC | 1,822 | $39K | 21.0% | 9.6% | 1% | D |
| 5,461 | Oswego KS | 1,621 | $54K | 22.8% | 9.9% | 25% | D |
| 5,462 | Creighton NE | 1,113 | $50K | 14.5% | 4.3% | 29% | D |
| 5,463 | Salineville OH | 1,149 | $48K | 21.5% | 2.2% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Oswego, 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 Oswego: questions
What is the median household income in Oswego?
$53,750 (±$5,258) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oswego?
22.8%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oswego?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oswego work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Parsons (20%, 14 mi), Pittsburg (4%, 28 mi), Coffeyville (3%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oswego walkable?
Oswego is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oswego without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oswego, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oswego
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.