Corey House/Hotel · Photo: Melodibit · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Grove (2.1%) is lower than in 83% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Grove; the top destination outside it is Tulsa (9%, 70 miles). For jobs and income Grove is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (B−). Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Grove at work: what stands out
Grove’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Grove is Tulsa, 70 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (234) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Grove workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Grove’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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.
What’s behind Grove’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Grove’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grove could be anywhere from D to C+.
How far Grove goes to work
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 Grove’s employers do
3,800 jobs are based in Grove.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grove, 2013 → 2023: 3,615 → 3,800. 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 Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Grove on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,897 residents head out to work, 713 work right here, and 3,087 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,600 people are in Grove on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.46 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.
Where the trip to work from Grove ends
Where Grove clocks in
9% 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.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Grove
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grove workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,489 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.
Driving is how Grove gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 2,783 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). 4.3% of Grove households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,083 U.S. towns of 5,200 to 10,000, Grove comes 2,378th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 458 | Piedmont OK | 9,427 | $104K | 2.6% | 3.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 735 | Verdigris OK | 5,888 | $84K | 6.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 911 | Tuttle OK | 8,708 | $104K | 5.3% | 4.8% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,376 | Cambria CA | 5,978 | $99K | 10.5% | 8.3% | 35% | C |
| 2,377 | Cornelia GA | 5,459 | $40K | 30.3% | 2.2% | 14% | C |
| 2,378 | Grove OK | 7,399 | $59K | 18.1% | 2.1% | 27% | C |
| 2,379 | Bedford Township MI | 9,145 | $68K | 13.0% | 9.2% | 4% | C |
| 2,380 | Pensacola Station FL | 5,281 | $72K | 20.8% | 2.0% | <1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,083 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Grove, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
How Grove compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Grove’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 Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Grove?
$58,941 (±$5,512) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grove?
18.1%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grove?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grove work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tulsa (9%, 70 mi), Jay (6%, 11 mi), Miami (5%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grove walkable?
Grove is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grove without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grove
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.