Photo: Hot Furnace · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Oakdale are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
Oakdale grades D− for jobs and income and B for walkability. 32.8% of residents are in poverty; Louisiana has 18.9%. About one in seven work in Oakdale itself; outside it, Oberlin draws the most (7%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Oakdale apart on work
No single place dominates Oakdale’s commute
The biggest draw, Oberlin, gets only 7% of working residents, and 56% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Oakdale residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
The figures behind Oakdale’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oakdale is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #159 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Oakdale’s grade up (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (14.4%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oakdale could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Where the trip to work from Oakdale ends
Where Oakdale clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
The distance from Oakdale to work
About 38% 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.
A workday in Oakdale: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,697 residents head out to work, 305 work right here, and 945 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,800 people are in Oakdale on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.62 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Most jobs in Oakdale are in services
1,250 jobs are based in Oakdale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakdale, 2013 → 2023: 1,192 → 1,250. 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 Oakdale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of Louisiana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakdale workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,495 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 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 in Oakdale is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oakdale is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #74 of 161 in Louisiana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,730 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). 10.9% of Oakdale households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oakdale’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 4,600 to 8,800, and where Oakdale sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 166 | Addis LA | 7,679 | $108K | 3.2% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 984 | Elmwood LA | 6,077 | $89K | 7.7% | 4.8% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,228 | Westlake LA | 4,763 | $68K | 12.1% | 0.0% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,204 | Firebaugh CA | 8,774 | $48K | 36.6% | 18.7% | 23% | D− |
| 3,205 | Zuni Pueblo NM | 5,864 | $46K | 29.9% | 7.3% | 24% | D− |
| 3,206 | Oakdale LA | 6,526 | $43K | 32.8% | 14.4% | 15% | D− |
| 3,207 | Sherrill Township MO | 5,574 | $47K | 26.3% | 10.9% | 19% | D− |
| 3,208 | Helena-West Helena AR | 8,216 | $36K | 31.7% | 17.7% | 34% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,218 | 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 Oakdale, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
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 Oakdale: questions
What is the median household income in Oakdale?
$42,540 (±$17,317) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakdale?
32.8%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakdale?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakdale work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oberlin (7%, 16 mi), Alexandria (5%, 35 mi), Lake Charles (4%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oakdale walkable?
Oakdale is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oakdale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakdale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakdale
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.