Photo: Justin Cozart from Dallas, TX, USA · CC BY 2.0Households in Bartlesville have lower incomes than those in 76% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Bartlesville is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+). Poverty touches 17.2% of residents, against 15.3% across Oklahoma. About half stay in Bartlesville for work; outside it, Tulsa is the main destination (14%, 42 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bartlesville and work: the main findings
Bartlesville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Bartlesville is Tulsa, 42 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (2,074) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Most jobs in Bartlesville go to people who live here
Of the 15,149 jobs based in Bartlesville, 45% are held by Bartlesville residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
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.
Where Bartlesville’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Unemployment holds Bartlesville’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bartlesville could be anywhere from C− to C+.
How many miles Bartlesville commutes
About 20% 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.
Who commutes out of Bartlesville, and who commutes in
On a workday 8,041 residents head out to work, 6,747 work right here, and 8,402 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 (1.02 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.
Where the trip to work from Bartlesville ends
Where Bartlesville clocks in
14% of workers
4% 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.
Jobs in Bartlesville: what the 15,149 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bartlesville, 2013 → 2023: 17,502 → 15,149. 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 Bartlesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 18 minutes from Bartlesville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bartlesville workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,785 commuters (the 8% 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 commute in Bartlesville is mostly behind the wheel
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 16,071 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). 6.9% of Bartlesville households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Bartlesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bartlesville places 990th of 1,113 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 27,000 to 52,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Jenks OK | 28,175 | $111K | 6.8% | 2.6% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 326 | Bixby OK | 32,766 | $104K | 5.6% | 3.7% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 587 | Yukon OK | 27,615 | $75K | 8.8% | 4.0% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 988 | Flint Township MI | 30,844 | $62K | 17.6% | 9.1% | 11% | C |
| 989 | North Chicago IL | 34,050 | $60K | 24.5% | 9.9% | 7% | C |
| 990 | Bartlesville OK | 38,278 | $59K | 17.2% | 4.4% | 46% | C |
| 991 | Sanford NC | 34,138 | $58K | 22.0% | 4.4% | 29% | C |
| 992 | Bristol TN | 28,107 | $58K | 13.6% | 6.8% | 26% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,113 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Bartlesville, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Around Bartlesville: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Dewey (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bartlesville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bartlesville | – | C | B+ | 18 min | $58,869 |
| Dewey | 2% | D | C | 22 min | $42,695 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bartlesville’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 Bartlesville: questions
What is the median household income in Bartlesville?
$58,869 (±$3,809) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bartlesville?
17.2%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bartlesville?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bartlesville work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tulsa (14%, 42 mi), Oklahoma City (4%, 124 mi), Broken Arrow (2%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bartlesville walkable?
Bartlesville is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bartlesville without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bartlesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bartlesville
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.