Most of Oakbrook commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
Hardly any stay in Oakbrook for work; outside it, Florence is the main destination (16%, 2 miles). Oakbrook has 714 jobs, and 4,785 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Oakbrook are A+ for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Oakbrook: the figures worth knowing
Oakbrook has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Oakbrook went from 376 in 2013 to 714 in 2023, +90%. The jobs ↓
Oakbrook is a place people come home to
There are 714 jobs based in Oakbrook, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Oakbrook has about 6,100 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Oakbrook’s working residents have a job less than 7 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 27 minutes, longer than the Kentucky average of 24. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Oakbrook gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oakbrook is better than 96% of U.S. towns, #6 of 142 in Kentucky. The poverty rate is its strongest input (2.5%, U.S. 12.5%); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($94,652, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oakbrook could be anywhere from A to A+.
The kinds of work in Oakbrook
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakbrook, 2013 → 2023: 376 → 714. 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 Oakbrook’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Oakbrook, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,750 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 679 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,100 people are in Oakbrook on a workday afternoon, 40% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 27 minutes each way, longer than most of Kentucky
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakbrook workers work from home, vs 10% across Kentucky. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,069 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Kentucky: 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.
Where Oakbrook’s working residents head each day
Where Oakbrook clocks in
16% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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.
Oakbrook’s commute, mile by mile
About 17% 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.
Most trips from Oakbrook start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oakbrook is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns, #119 of 142 in Kentucky. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.1% across Kentucky.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,879 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 58% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.8% of Oakbrook households have no vehicle (Kentucky 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Oakbrook’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oakbrook places 173rd of 2,878 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Francisville KY | 10,565 | $159K | 1.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Union KY | 7,937 | $137K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Rehoboth MA | 13,567 | $138K | 3.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| 172 | Lakes of the Four Seasons IN | 7,402 | $122K | 3.1% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| 173 | Oakbrook KY | 10,211 | $95K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 174 | Neptune Beach FL | 7,020 | $119K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 175 | Columbia IL | 10,865 | $108K | 5.4% | 1.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 185 | Edgewood KY | 8,503 | $119K | 3.8% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Oakbrook, the top three, the last and three more from Kentucky.
Work next door: 18% of Oakbrook’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oakbrook workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakbrook | – | A+ | C | 27 min | $94,652 |
| Burlington | 2% | A | C+ | 23 min | $109,308 |
| Florence | 16% | B+ | B | 23 min | $71,003 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Florence. Darker towns draw more of Oakbrook’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Oakbrook: questions
What is the median household income in Oakbrook?
$94,652 (±$8,670) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $63,726 across Kentucky and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakbrook?
2.5%, against 16.1% across Kentucky and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakbrook?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Kentucky and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakbrook work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Florence (16%, 2 mi), Cincinnati (9%, 14 mi), Covington (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oakbrook walkable?
Oakbrook is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oakbrook without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakbrook, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakbrook
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.