Photo: Xnatedawgx · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Coalgate trail those of 92% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 30.4% of residents (Oklahoma 15.3%). The two grades for Coalgate are D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in four work in Coalgate; the top destination outside it is Atoka (7%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Coalgate stands out on work
Fewer than half of Coalgate workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Coalgate’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 16% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Coalgate are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 22 across Oklahoma. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oklahoma worker. 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; with 623 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Coalgate: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Coalgate is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Coalgate’s grade.
Unemployment (10.6%) is left out: Coalgate’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Coalgate stays D−.
What work there is in Coalgate: 801 jobs
801 jobs are based in Coalgate.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Coalgate, 2013 → 2023: 719 → 801. 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 Coalgate’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Coalgate spends getting to work: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Coalgate workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 724 commuters (the 8% 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 works in Coalgate, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 453 residents head out to work, 170 work right here, and 631 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Coalgate on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.29 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.
Commuting out of Coalgate: the destinations
Where Coalgate clocks in
7% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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 Coalgate
About 25% 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.
Getting around Coalgate: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Coalgate is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.5% across Oklahoma, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 790 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). 12.6% of Coalgate households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Coalgate’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Coalgate sits among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 913 | Justice OK | 1,530 | $98K | 7.5% | 2.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,198 | Union City OK | 2,129 | $106K | 11.5% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,535 | Oologah OK | 1,358 | $80K | 9.4% | 7.6% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,647 | Cabool MO | 2,089 | $34K | 28.9% | 1.4% | 22% | D− |
| 5,648 | Aberdeen OH | 1,551 | $45K | 32.1% | 11.2% | 2% | D− |
| 5,649 | Coalgate OK | 1,735 | $46K | 30.4% | 10.6% | 27% | D− |
| 5,650 | Huntsville TN | 1,709 | $31K | 30.9% | 0.0% | 23% | D− |
| 5,651 | Logan WV | 1,312 | $30K | 44.5% | 24.1% | 13% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | 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 Coalgate, 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 Coalgate: questions
What is the median household income in Coalgate?
$45,938 (±$12,538) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Coalgate?
30.4%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Coalgate?
16 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Coalgate work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Atoka (7%, 11 mi), Durant (6%, 38 mi), Oklahoma City (5%, 98 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Coalgate walkable?
Coalgate is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Coalgate 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 Coalgate, from the people who make the trip.
More of Coalgate
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.