Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Hooker’s household incomes are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Hooker D−; getting around on foot earns it B+. 28.4% of residents live below the poverty line, where Oklahoma as a whole has 15.3%. About one in five stay in Hooker for work; outside it, Liberal is the main destination (22%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Hooker: the figures worth knowing
A lot of Hooker workers cross into Kansas
18% of Hooker workers work outside Oklahoma, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Liberal (22%), Garden City (2%) and Great Bend (1%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Hooker makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Hooker are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Hooker residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Hooker than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Hooker fell from 544 in 2013 to 379 in 2023, −30%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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 523 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Hooker’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Hooker is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hooker’s grade.
Unemployment (6.3%) is left out: Hooker’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, Hooker could be anywhere from D− to C.
The towns that employ Hooker’s residents
Where Hooker clocks in
22% 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.
40% of the jobs in Hooker make or build things
379 jobs are based in Hooker.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hooker, 2013 → 2023: 544 → 379. 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 Hooker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Hooker
On a workday 426 residents head out to work, 97 work right here, and 282 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.
0.72 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 21 minutes in Hooker
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hooker workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 591 commuters (the 7% 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.
The distance from Hooker to work
About 24% 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 Hooker, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hooker is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Hooker 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 633 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). 16.1% of Hooker households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hooker’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hooker and other 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 5,577 | Charleston MS | 1,688 | $37K | 27.1% | 12.7% | 24% | D− |
| 5,578 | Senath MO | 1,504 | $32K | 24.2% | 2.5% | 10% | D− |
| 5,579 | Hooker OK | 1,706 | $49K | 28.4% | 6.3% | 19% | D− |
| 5,580 | Erin TN | 1,207 | $36K | 21.9% | 6.9% | 15% | D− |
| 5,581 | Crosbyton TX | 1,407 | $39K | 26.9% | 4.6% | 20% | 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 Hooker, 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 Hooker: questions
What is the median household income in Hooker?
$48,571 (±$17,247) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hooker?
28.4%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hooker?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hooker work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Liberal (22%, 20 mi), Guymon (18%, 19 mi), Tyrone (2%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hooker walkable?
Hooker is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hooker without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hooker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hooker
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.