Households in Jay earn less than those in 97% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 23.5% of residents; Oklahoma has 15.3%. Jobs and income earn Jay D−; getting around on foot earns it A. About one in five stay in Jay for work; outside it, Grove is the main destination (8%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Jay, in brief
Jay is where the jobs are
Jay has 1,817 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,500 people are in town, 40% more than the 2,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Jay makes and builds things
39% of the jobs based in Jay are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Jay residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Jay workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Jay’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 ↓
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 813 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Jay’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jay is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #124 of 131 in Oklahoma. Job access by car holds Jay’s grade up (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (13.6%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jay could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who works in Jay, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 655 residents head out to work, 158 work right here, and 1,659 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Jay on a workday afternoon, 40% more than live here.
2.2 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.
Factories, building and farms: 39% of the jobs in Jay
1,817 jobs are based in Jay.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jay, 2013 → 2023: 1,629 → 1,817. 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 Jay’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Jay’s workers come from
Where Jay clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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 28 minutes each way for Jay’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jay workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 912 commuters (the 5% 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 Jay goes to work
About 26% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Jay
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jay is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #5 of 131 in Oklahoma. Both inputs place Jay 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 962 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). 13.2% of Jay households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jay’s commuters take a bus or train.
Jay next to U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,232 | Kiefer OK | 2,310 | $83K | 10.4% | 3.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,233 | Union City OK | 2,129 | $106K | 11.5% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,619 | Jones OK | 3,222 | $77K | 15.2% | 2.5% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,697 | Crownpoint NM | 2,882 | $51K | 31.5% | 6.9% | 24% | D− |
| 4,698 | Eureka KS | 2,239 | $49K | 22.4% | 3.8% | 36% | D− |
| 4,699 | Jay OK | 2,507 | $38K | 23.5% | 13.6% | 19% | D− |
| 4,700 | Union Township OH | 2,783 | $53K | 24.4% | 9.8% | 12% | D− |
| 4,701 | Cienega Springs AZ | 1,958 | $47K | 20.1% | 7.4% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Jay, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Next door to Jay
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Jay workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay | – | D− | A | 28 min | $38,094 |
| Brush Creek | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
| New Eucha | under 3% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Brush Creek and New Eucha: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Jay’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 Jay: questions
What is the median household income in Jay?
$38,094 (±$3,508) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jay?
23.5%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jay?
28 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jay work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grove (8%, 11 mi), Tulsa (5%, 65 mi), Gentry (4%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jay walkable?
Jay is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jay without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jay, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jay
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.