Households in Colbert have lower incomes than those in 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Colbert D; getting around on foot earns it B−. Below the poverty line: 24.8% of residents, next to 15.3% for Oklahoma as a whole. Only 4% stay in Colbert for work; outside it, Durant is the main destination (34%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Colbert apart on work
The figures behind Colbert’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Colbert is better than 12% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Colbert’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (6.9%) is left out: Colbert’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, Colbert could be anywhere from D to C−.
The towns that employ Colbert’s residents
Where Colbert clocks in
34% of workers
10% of workers
8% 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.
Who commutes out of Colbert, and who commutes in
On a workday 342 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 337 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.
Inside Colbert’s 351 jobs
351 jobs are based in Colbert.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Colbert, 2013 → 2023: 331 → 351. 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 Colbert’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Colbert: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Colbert workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 432 commuters (the 12% 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.
How many miles Colbert commutes
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.
In Colbert, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Colbert is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Colbert 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 493 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). 7.7% of Colbert households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Colbert’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Colbert is 2,997th among 3,771 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− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,995 | Pendleton Township IL | 1,133 | $58K | 16.2% | 1.6% | 1% | D |
| 2,996 | Medway ME | 1,197 | $56K | 11.4% | 5.2% | 5% | D |
| 2,997 | Colbert OK | 1,118 | $46K | 24.8% | 6.9% | 4% | D |
| 2,998 | Troy TN | 1,399 | $52K | 13.6% | 2.2% | 4% | D |
| 2,999 | Benton TN | 1,476 | $29K | 22.7% | 10.1% | 7% | 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 Colbert, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
How Colbert compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Calera (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Colbert’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 Colbert: questions
What is the median household income in Colbert?
$46,250 (±$10,715) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Colbert?
24.8%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Colbert?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Colbert work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Durant (34%, 12 mi), Denison (10%, 8 mi), Oklahoma City (8%, 125 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Colbert walkable?
Colbert is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Colbert without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Colbert, from the people who make the trip.
More of Colbert
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.