Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Idabel are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Idabel D; getting around on foot earns it B. 25.1% of residents are in poverty, where Oklahoma as a whole has 15.3%. About one in three work in Idabel; the top destination outside it is Hochatown (11%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Idabel
The figures behind Idabel’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Idabel is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #109 of 131 in Oklahoma. Unemployment holds Idabel’s grade up (5.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($43,295, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Idabel could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Jobs in Idabel: what the 3,041 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Idabel, 2013 → 2023: 3,989 → 3,041. 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 Idabel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Idabel on a workday
On a workday 1,832 residents head out to work, 834 work right here, and 2,207 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 (1.14 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 Idabel’s working residents head each day
Where Idabel 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.
The daily trip from Idabel: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Idabel workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,388 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 it is to work from Idabel
About 28% 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 Idabel, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Idabel is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #62 of 131 in Oklahoma. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 2,528 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). 13.6% of Idabel households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Idabel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Idabel sits among U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 737 | Verdigris OK | 5,888 | $84K | 6.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 916 | Tuttle OK | 8,708 | $104K | 5.3% | 4.8% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,033 | Noble OK | 7,748 | $82K | 10.8% | 1.2% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,035 | Nashville GA | 5,038 | $43K | 21.7% | 6.0% | 32% | D |
| 3,036 | Benton Harbor MI | 8,803 | $31K | 40.1% | 21.6% | 7% | D |
| 3,037 | Idabel OK | 6,934 | $43K | 25.1% | 5.4% | 31% | D |
| 3,038 | Calumet Township MI | 6,309 | $53K | 16.4% | 7.5% | 30% | D |
| 3,039 | Woodlake CA | 8,073 | $46K | 25.3% | 11.0% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,167 | 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 Idabel, 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 Idabel: questions
What is the median household income in Idabel?
$43,295 (±$6,767) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Idabel?
25.1%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Idabel?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Idabel work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hochatown (11%, 18 mi), Broken Bow (8%, 10 mi), Oklahoma City (3%, 187 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Idabel walkable?
Idabel is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Idabel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Idabel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Idabel
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.