Households in Burns Flat have lower incomes than those in 92% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 25.7% of residents, against 15.3% across Oklahoma. The two grades for Burns Flat are D− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Only 6% work in Burns Flat; the top destination outside it is Elk City (23%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Burns Flat at work: what stands out
Burns Flat and Elk City trade workers both ways
Elk City is the top workplace for Burns Flat residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Burns Flat come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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; with 535 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Burns Flat’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Burns Flat is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Burns Flat’s grade.
Unemployment (6.4%) is left out: Burns Flat’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, Burns Flat could be anywhere from D− to D.
The places Burns Flat commutes to
Where Burns Flat clocks in
9% 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 far it is to work from Burns Flat
About 38% 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.
Burns Flat on a workday afternoon
On a workday 503 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 294 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Burns Flat on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.61 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.
The kinds of work in Burns Flat
326 jobs are based in Burns Flat.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Burns Flat, 2013 → 2023: 10 → 326. 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 Burns Flat’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes to work from Burns Flat
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Burns Flat workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 676 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.
In Burns Flat, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Burns Flat is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.5% across Oklahoma, on an EPA index of 2.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 698 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). 3.3% of Burns Flat households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Burns Flat’s commuters take a bus or train.
Burns Flat and other U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 991 | Justice OK | 1,530 | $98K | 7.5% | 2.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,308 | Kiefer OK | 2,310 | $83K | 10.4% | 3.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,309 | Union City OK | 2,129 | $106K | 11.5% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,687 | Glouster OH | 1,630 | $38K | 28.0% | 4.8% | 5% | D− |
| 5,688 | Woodsfield OH | 2,127 | $49K | 25.4% | 12.6% | 23% | D− |
| 5,689 | Burns Flat OK | 1,918 | $45K | 25.7% | 6.4% | 6% | D− |
| 5,690 | Jamestown TN | 2,135 | $31K | 34.0% | 2.0% | 26% | D− |
| 5,691 | Banks Springs LA | 1,406 | $26K | 65.3% | 11.2% | 11% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Burns Flat, 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 Burns Flat: questions
What is the median household income in Burns Flat?
$45,446 (±$9,953) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Burns Flat?
25.7%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Burns Flat?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Burns Flat work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elk City (23%, 14 mi), Oklahoma City (9%, 94 mi), Clinton (7%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Burns Flat walkable?
Burns Flat is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 2.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Burns Flat without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Burns Flat, from the people who make the trip.
More of Burns Flat
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.