Photo: H.L.I.T. (flickr.com) · CC BY 2.0Work means Oklahoma City for more than half of Bethany’s working residents
Household incomes here are lower than in 79% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Bethany C; getting around on foot earns it B+. Only 6% work in Bethany itself; outside it, Oklahoma City draws the most (62%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Bethany
More than half of Bethany works in Oklahoma City
4,907 working residents, 62%, have their main job in Oklahoma City, 7.7 miles away. That’s 10 times as many as work in Bethany itself. The commute map ↓
Most Bethany residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Bethany’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bethany is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #52 of 131 in Oklahoma. Job access by car holds Bethany’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bethany could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Commuting out of Bethany: the destinations
Where Bethany clocks in
62% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Bethany
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 leaves Bethany for work, and who comes in
On a workday 7,457 residents head out to work, 466 work right here, and 4,269 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Bethany on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.60 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 Bethany are in services
4,735 jobs are based in Bethany.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bethany, 2013 → 2023: 4,252 → 4,735. 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 Bethany’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Bethany: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bethany workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,078 commuters (the 6% 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.
Bethany is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bethany is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #34 of 131 in Oklahoma. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.5% across Oklahoma.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,612 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 20% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 48% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.5% of Bethany households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bethany’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bethany next to U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000: 1,513th of 1,860 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 370 | Newcastle OK | 15,198 | $93K | 3.8% | 2.8% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 930 | Glenpool OK | 14,705 | $80K | 11.0% | 3.3% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 961 | Mustang OK | 24,571 | $88K | 8.0% | 5.7% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,511 | Phillipsburg NJ | 15,456 | $68K | 20.2% | 7.3% | 11% | C |
| 1,512 | Blue Island IL | 21,805 | $59K | 17.1% | 15.5% | 6% | C |
| 1,513 | Bethany OK | 20,315 | $57K | 20.5% | 6.5% | 6% | C |
| 1,514 | Shelbyville TN | 26,146 | $55K | 20.7% | 3.8% | 34% | C |
| 1,515 | Hueytown AL | 16,159 | $63K | 16.2% | 8.6% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | 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 Bethany, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Bethany and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Warr Acres (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bethany workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethany | – | C | B+ | 21 min | $56,591 |
| Warr Acres | 4% | C+ | B | 22 min | $53,273 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bethany’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 Bethany: questions
What is the median household income in Bethany?
$56,591 (±$5,253) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bethany?
20.5%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bethany?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bethany work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (62%, 8 mi), Warr Acres (4%, 2 mi), Edmond (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bethany walkable?
Bethany is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bethany without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bethany, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bethany
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.