Briggs’ household incomes are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 28.4% of residents, next to 15.3% for Oklahoma as a whole. The two grades for Briggs are D− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Only 2% work in Briggs; the top destination outside it is Tahlequah (32%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Briggs
Briggs and Tahlequah trade workers both ways
Tahlequah is the top workplace for Briggs residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Briggs come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Briggs is a place people come home to
There are 86 jobs based in Briggs, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Briggs has about 840 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. 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; with 379 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Briggs
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Briggs’ grade.
Unemployment (9.9%) is left out: Briggs’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, Briggs could be anywhere from D− to D.
Where people from Briggs work
Where Briggs clocks in
32% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
How a workday changes Briggs
On a workday 372 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 79 people come in from elsewhere.
About 840 people are in Briggs on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.23 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.
Briggs is a services town
86 jobs are based in Briggs.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Briggs, 2013 → 2023: 8 → 86. 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 Briggs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Oklahoma
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Briggs workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 392 commuters (the 3% 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 distance from Briggs to work
About 28% 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.
Driving is how Briggs gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Briggs is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Briggs 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 403 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). 15.1% of Briggs households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Briggs’ commuters take a bus or train.
Briggs next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Forest Park OK | 1,035 | $104K | 0.4% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 856 | Oologah OK | 1,358 | $80K | 9.4% | 7.6% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,140 | Okarche OK | 1,196 | $94K | 11.8% | 0.8% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,606 | Glenmora LA | 1,040 | $32K | 36.4% | 9.1% | 2% | D− |
| 3,607 | Cleon Township MI | 1,057 | $52K | 27.1% | 5.9% | 4% | D− |
| 3,608 | Briggs OK | 1,131 | $47K | 28.4% | 9.9% | 2% | D− |
| 3,609 | Goodwater AL | 1,256 | $40K | 36.4% | 6.8% | 9% | D− |
| 3,610 | Glenville WV | 1,047 | $47K | 23.7% | 7.1% | 34% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Briggs, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
The towns around Briggs
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Briggs workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Briggs | – | D− | D− | 20 min | $47,250 |
| Welling | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Eldon | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Welling and Eldon: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Briggs’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 Briggs: questions
What is the median household income in Briggs?
$47,250 (±$13,555) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Briggs?
28.4%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Briggs?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Briggs work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tahlequah (32%, 6 mi), Muskogee (7%, 30 mi), Tulsa (6%, 59 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Briggs walkable?
Briggs is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 2.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Briggs without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Briggs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Briggs
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.