Central National Bank · Photo: Zeugzeug · CC BY-SA 4.0Alva’s family incomes are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Alva is better than 8% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A). Without college students, the poverty rate is 17.7%, where Oklahoma as a whole has 14.6%. 1% of workers have no commute at all, where Oklahoma as a whole has 9%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Alva, in a few figures
Commutes from Alva are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 22 across Oklahoma. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oklahoma worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% 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 ↓
Few Alva workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 9% across Oklahoma. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Alva’s grade explained
Family income holds Alva’s grade up ($73,500, U.S. $99,999); job access by car pulls it down.
22% of Alva’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (15% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 17.7%, against 25.9% for all residents. Unemployment (4.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($73,500), since student households pull the household median down ($40,709).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Alva could be anywhere from D− to C.
Getting to work from Alva takes about 11 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alva workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,568 commuters (the 1% 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.
How far it is to work from Alva
About 40% 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 and out of Alva on a workday
On a workday 1,212 residents head out to work, 914 work right here, and 1,305 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 (1.04 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.
7% of working residents work in Oklahoma City
Where Alva clocks in
7% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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 Alva’s 2,219 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alva, 2013 → 2023: 2,413 → 2,219. 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 Alva’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Alva
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.5% across Oklahoma, on an EPA index of 8.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,597 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). 11.5% of Alva households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alva’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,600, and where Alva sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Nichols Hills OK | 3,864 | $208K | 2.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 765 | Verdigris OK | 5,888 | $84K | 6.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 971 | Goldsby OK | 3,591 | $103K | 11.2% | 2.4% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,586 | Ashdown AR | 4,135 | $56K | 20.8% | 10.2% | 21% | D |
| 3,587 | New Roads LA | 4,216 | $51K | 24.6% | 10.0% | 22% | D |
| 3,588 | Alva OK | 4,880 | $41K | 25.9% | 4.9% | 43% | D |
| 3,589 | West Hazleton PA | 5,284 | $34K | 34.9% | 12.4% | 8% | D |
| 3,590 | Trenton TN | 4,137 | $59K | 29.6% | 15.6% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,840 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Alva, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
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.
- Students. 22% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Alva: questions
What is the median household income in Alva?
$40,709 (±$4,899) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alva?
25.9% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 17.7%. Oklahoma: 15.3%.
How long is the commute from Alva?
11 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alva work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (7%, 112 mi), Enid (3%, 51 mi), Woodward (2%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alva walkable?
Alva is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alva without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alva, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alva
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.