Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Hugo has lower household incomes than 98% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in Hugo; the top destination outside it is Durant (8%, 50 miles). Poverty touches 29.9% of residents (Oklahoma 15.3%). Jobs and income earn Hugo D; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Hugo
Hugo’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Hugo is Durant, 50 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (143) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Hugo workers earn over $40,000 a year
36% of Hugo’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Hugo is where the jobs are
Hugo has 2,711 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Hugo
Unemployment holds Hugo’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($33,917, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hugo could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The commute from Hugo, by distance
About 39% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Hugo
2,711 jobs are based in Hugo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hugo, 2013 → 2023: 2,738 → 2,711. 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 Hugo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Hugo by day
On a workday 1,185 residents head out to work, 537 work right here, and 2,174 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,100 people are in Hugo on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Where the people who work in Hugo live
Where Hugo clocks in
8% 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.
About 18 minutes each way for Hugo’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hugo workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,743 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.
Hugo is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hugo is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #13 of 131 in Oklahoma. Both inputs place Hugo 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 1,873 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). 16.4% of Hugo households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hugo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Hugo sits among U.S. towns of 3,600 to 6,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Nichols Hills OK | 3,864 | $208K | 2.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 737 | Verdigris OK | 5,888 | $84K | 6.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,856 | McLoud OK | 4,564 | $63K | 18.0% | 1.5% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,383 | Lanett AL | 6,781 | $42K | 19.1% | 7.3% | 7% | D |
| 3,384 | Willows CA | 6,116 | $64K | 19.3% | 8.4% | 23% | D |
| 3,385 | Hugo OK | 5,082 | $34K | 29.9% | 4.4% | 31% | D |
| 3,386 | Pleasant Township OH | 5,671 | $50K | 30.3% | 4.7% | 17% | D |
| 3,387 | Indiantown FL | 6,826 | $56K | 23.3% | 7.2% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Hugo, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Around Hugo: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hugo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hugo | – | D | A− | 18 min | $33,917 |
| Sawyer | under 1% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sawyer: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hugo’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 Hugo: questions
What is the median household income in Hugo?
$33,917 (±$5,186) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hugo?
29.9%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hugo?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hugo work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Durant (8%, 50 mi), Paris (6%, 24 mi), Oklahoma City (3%, 152 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hugo walkable?
Hugo is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hugo without a car?
1% 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 Hugo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hugo
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.