Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Broken Bow trail those of 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Broken Bow C−; getting around on foot earns it C−. Poverty touches 34.4% of residents; Oklahoma has 15.3%. Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, next to 9% for Oklahoma as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Broken Bow
Fewer than half of Broken Bow workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Broken Bow’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Few Broken Bow workers work from home
Only 2% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Broken Bow
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Broken Bow is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #76 of 131 in Oklahoma. Unemployment holds Broken Bow’s grade up (1.6%, 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, Broken Bow could be anywhere from D to C.
What the 2,250 jobs in Broken Bow are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Broken Bow, 2013 → 2023: 2,320 → 2,250. 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 Broken Bow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way, about the OK average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Broken Bow workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,434 commuters (the 2% 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.
Who leaves Broken Bow for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,303 residents head out to work, 367 work right here, and 1,883 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,800 people are in Broken Bow on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.35 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.
15% of working residents work in Hochatown
Where Broken Bow clocks in
11% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Broken Bow
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 Broken Bow gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Broken Bow is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns, #119 of 131 in Oklahoma. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,462 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). 9.0% of Broken Bow households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Broken Bow’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Broken Bow ranks: 3,467th of 4,195 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Nichols Hills OK | 3,864 | $208K | 2.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,001 | Goldsby OK | 3,591 | $103K | 11.2% | 2.4% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,712 | Jones OK | 3,222 | $77K | 15.2% | 2.5% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,465 | Columbia KY | 4,680 | $47K | 18.3% | 4.4% | 29% | C− |
| 3,466 | Dandridge TN | 3,947 | $54K | 15.1% | 9.6% | 10% | C− |
| 3,467 | Broken Bow OK | 4,211 | $40K | 34.4% | 1.6% | 22% | C− |
| 3,468 | Duquesne PA | 5,019 | $44K | 22.9% | 9.1% | 4% | C− |
| 3,469 | New London Township OH | 3,175 | $54K | 12.6% | 6.7% | 14% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,195 | 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 Broken Bow, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Next door is work for 15% of Broken Bow
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Broken Bow workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broken Bow | – | C− | C− | 21 min | $39,895 |
| Hochatown | 15% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hochatown: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Hochatown. Darker towns draw more of Broken Bow’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 Broken Bow: questions
What is the median household income in Broken Bow?
$39,895 (±$15,439) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Broken Bow?
34.4%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Broken Bow?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Broken Bow work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hochatown (15%, 10 mi), Idabel (11%, 10 mi), Oklahoma City (3%, 186 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Broken Bow walkable?
Broken Bow is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Broken Bow without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Broken Bow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Broken Bow
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.