Wintersmith Park Historic District · Photo: Brad Holt · CC BY-SA 2.0Ada draws 9,922 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns. Employers in Ada report 13,037 jobs, and 7,006 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Ada is better than 24% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ada at work: what stands out
Ada is where the jobs are
Ada has 13,037 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Ada are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 22 across Oklahoma. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oklahoma worker. Time on the road ↓
Ada draws workers from far and wide
The 13,037 jobs in Ada are filled from a wide area. Ada’s own residents hold 24% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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 four measures behind Ada’s grade
Unemployment holds Ada’s grade up (4.3%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($53,507, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ada could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The daily flow of workers through Ada
On a workday 3,891 residents head out to work and 3,115 work right here.
About 23,000 people are in Ada on a workday afternoon, 36% more 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.
Ada’s commute takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ada workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,372 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Oklahoma: 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 daily trip into Ada
Where Ada clocks in
5% 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.
The kinds of work in Ada
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ada, 2013 → 2023: 11,553 → 13,037. 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 Ada’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ada
About 25% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Ada
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,711 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). 10.8% of Ada households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Ada’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,888 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 22,000, Ada comes 1,601st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 359 | Newcastle OK | 15,198 | $93K | 3.8% | 2.8% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 529 | Choctaw OK | 12,549 | $101K | 6.3% | 3.1% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 923 | Glenpool OK | 14,705 | $80K | 11.0% | 3.3% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,599 | Pell City AL | 14,320 | $69K | 20.8% | 7.4% | 20% | C− |
| 1,600 | Warrensville Heights OH | 13,353 | $50K | 21.4% | 8.3% | 4% | C− |
| 1,601 | Ada OK | 16,660 | $54K | 16.1% | 4.3% | 44% | C− |
| 1,602 | Covington GA | 17,477 | $59K | 20.4% | 7.3% | 16% | C− |
| 1,603 | Weatherford OK | 12,005 | $55K | 20.3% | 6.2% | 42% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,888 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Ada, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Ada and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Ada’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 Ada: questions
What is the median household income in Ada?
$53,507 (±$4,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ada?
16.1%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ada?
14 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ada work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (5%, 68 mi), Ardmore (3%, 48 mi), Norman (2%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ada walkable?
Ada is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ada without a car?
<1% 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 Ada, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ada
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.