Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainHousehold incomes in Oakland trail those of 60% of U.S. towns
Oakland grades C for jobs and income and A for walkability. The poverty rate is 10.9%, next to 10.6% for Nebraska as a whole. About one in five work in Oakland; the top destination outside it is Omaha (11%, 45 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Oakland, in brief
What’s behind Oakland’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Oakland is better than 26% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Oakland’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Oakland’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, Oakland could be anywhere from D to C+.
How far it is to work from Oakland
About 19% 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.
How a workday changes Oakland
On a workday 515 residents head out to work, 123 work right here, and 307 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Oakland on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
Out of Oakland to work: where people go
Where Oakland clocks in
11% 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 kinds of work in Oakland
430 jobs are based in Oakland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakland, 2013 → 2023: 493 → 430. 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 Oakland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Oakland takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakland workers work from home, vs 11% across Nebraska. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 669 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Nebraska: 86% 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.
In Oakland, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oakland is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Oakland 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 717 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). 5.5% of Oakland households have no vehicle (Nebraska 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oakland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800, Oakland ranks 3,340th of 5,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 157 | Yutan NE | 1,451 | $103K | 0.7% | 8.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 205 | Buccaneer Bay NE | 1,418 | $161K | 4.9% | 0.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 272 | Pohocco Township NE | 1,296 | $100K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,338 | Lewis Township PA | 1,461 | $64K | 10.4% | 2.6% | 1% | C |
| 3,339 | Pelahatchie MS | 1,324 | $56K | 15.0% | 4.0% | 7% | C |
| 3,340 | Oakland NE | 1,337 | $69K | 10.9% | 0.0% | 19% | C |
| 3,341 | West Liberty OH | 1,756 | $52K | 11.2% | 2.1% | 5% | C |
| 3,342 | Jackson Center OH | 1,446 | $65K | 13.7% | 5.2% | 11% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Oakland, the top three, the last and three more from Nebraska.
Work in the towns next to Oakland
The biggest share goes to Bell Creek Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oakland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland | – | C | A | 22 min | $68,900 |
| Oakland Township | under 2% | — | — | 11 min | — |
| Bell Creek Township | 2% | — | — | 10 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Oakland Township and Bell Creek Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oakland’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 Oakland: questions
What is the median household income in Oakland?
$68,900 (±$11,248) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,475 across Nebraska and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakland?
10.9%, against 10.6% across Nebraska and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakland?
22 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Nebraska and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakland work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Omaha (11%, 45 mi), Fremont (9%, 27 mi), West Point (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oakland walkable?
Oakland is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oakland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakland
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.