Oklahoma City University · Photo: Matthew Rutledge (rutlo) · CC BY 2.0Foster has 2.7 jobs for every working resident: 203 people commute in to work
Commuters spend 27 minutes getting to work on average, next to 22 for Oklahoma and 26 for the U.S. Foster has 204 jobs for 76 working residents. Only 1% work in Foster itself; outside it, Pauls Valley draws the most (11%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Foster
On a workday 75 residents head out to work and 1 work right here.
About 380 people are in Foster on a workday afternoon, 51% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the people who work in Foster live
Where Foster clocks in
11% of workers
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.
In Foster, 57% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Foster, 2013 → 2023: 33 → 204. 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 Foster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Foster
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Foster workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 110 commuters (the 11% 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.
Miles to work from Foster
About 33% 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.
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 Foster: questions
What is the median household income in Foster?
$74,712 (±$8,781) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Foster?
10.6%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Foster?
27 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Foster work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pauls Valley (11%, 17 mi), Elmore City (9%, 6 mi), Oklahoma City (9%, 60 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Foster without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Foster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Foster
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.