Photo: G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0Households in Bristow earn less than those in 97% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Bristow for work; outside it, Tulsa is the main destination (21%, 34 miles). The poverty rate is 29.1%, where Oklahoma as a whole has 15.3%. For jobs and income Bristow is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bristow and work: the main findings
Bristow trades workers with the towns around it
Bristow has about as many jobs (1,830) as working residents (1,842), but they are mostly different people: 1,467 residents leave for work each day while 1,455 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Bristow are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Bristow’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Bristow is Tulsa, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (388) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
Inside Bristow’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Bristow’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($38,906, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bristow could be anywhere from D to C+.
How many people are in Bristow by day
On a workday 1,467 residents head out to work, 375 work right here, and 1,455 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 (0.99 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.
The commute from Bristow, by distance
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.
Where Bristow goes to work
Where Bristow clocks in
21% of workers
9% 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.
Inside Bristow’s 1,830 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bristow, 2013 → 2023: 1,817 → 1,830. 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 Bristow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Bristow
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bristow workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,441 commuters (the 5% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Bristow
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,512 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). 12.8% of Bristow households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bristow’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Bristow ranks: 3,013th of 3,908 U.S. towns of 3,100 to 5,900
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Nichols Hills OK | 3,864 | $208K | 2.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 733 | Verdigris OK | 5,888 | $84K | 6.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 948 | Goldsby OK | 3,591 | $103K | 11.2% | 2.4% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,011 | Concordia KS | 4,991 | $51K | 12.2% | 3.2% | 43% | C− |
| 3,012 | Hardin MT | 3,696 | $60K | 7.2% | 5.6% | 46% | C− |
| 3,013 | Bristow OK | 4,381 | $39K | 29.1% | 3.1% | 20% | C− |
| 3,014 | Sugarcreek PA | 4,680 | $64K | 9.9% | 6.7% | 16% | C− |
| 3,015 | Hempfield Township PA | 3,646 | $50K | 8.9% | 6.4% | 8% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,908 | 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 Bristow, 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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bristow: questions
What is the median household income in Bristow?
$38,906 (±$9,038) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bristow?
29.1%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bristow?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bristow work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tulsa (21%, 34 mi), Oklahoma City (9%, 68 mi), Sapulpa (3%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bristow walkable?
Bristow is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bristow without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bristow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bristow
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.