Photo: katsrcool · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in El Reno trail those of 80% of U.S. towns
19.3% of residents live below the poverty line; Oklahoma has 15.3%. El Reno grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in four stay in El Reno for work; outside it, Oklahoma City is the main destination (33%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in El Reno
El Reno and Oklahoma City trade workers both ways
Oklahoma City is the top workplace for El Reno residents (33%) and also where the most people who work in El Reno come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
El Reno trades workers with the towns around it
El Reno has about as many jobs (7,443) as working residents (6,959), but they are mostly different people: 5,036 residents leave for work each day while 5,520 people come in. Only 26% of the jobs in El Reno are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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 El Reno earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, El Reno is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #59 of 131 in Oklahoma. Job access by car holds El Reno’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, El Reno could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Where people from El Reno work
Where El Reno clocks in
33% of workers
3% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of El Reno
On a workday 5,036 residents head out to work, 1,923 work right here, and 5,520 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 (1.07 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.
Jobs in El Reno: what the 7,443 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in El Reno, 2013 → 2023: 6,524 → 7,443. 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 El Reno’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way, about the OK average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of El Reno workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,205 commuters (the 6% 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 far El Reno goes to work
About 15% 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.
For most of El Reno, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, El Reno is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #76 of 131 in Oklahoma. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% of 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 7,695 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). 6.5% of El Reno households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of El Reno’s commuters take a bus or train.
El Reno places 1,470th of 1,705 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 15,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 337 | Newcastle OK | 15,198 | $93K | 3.8% | 2.8% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 845 | Yukon OK | 27,615 | $75K | 8.8% | 4.0% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 888 | Mustang OK | 24,571 | $88K | 8.0% | 5.7% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,468 | Windham CT | 24,139 | $56K | 20.7% | 5.8% | 23% | C− |
| 1,469 | Myrtle Grove FL | 15,595 | $68K | 17.7% | 8.2% | 3% | C− |
| 1,470 | El Reno OK | 20,730 | $56K | 19.3% | 6.1% | 28% | C− |
| 1,471 | Dallas OR | 17,890 | $72K | 15.5% | 7.4% | 15% | C− |
| 1,472 | Logansport IN | 18,287 | $47K | 16.1% | 4.3% | 27% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,705 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 El Reno, 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 El Reno: questions
What is the median household income in El Reno?
$56,219 (±$6,762) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in El Reno?
19.3%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from El Reno?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in El Reno work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (33%, 26 mi), Yukon (3%, 11 mi), Tulsa (3%, 122 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is El Reno walkable?
El Reno is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around El Reno without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from El Reno, from the people who make the trip.
More of El Reno
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.