B. W. McLean House and Office · Photo: Melodibit · CC BY-SA 3.0Work means Tulsa for about half of Jenks’ working residents
Jenks grades A for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 84% of U.S. towns. About one in ten stay in Jenks for work; outside it, Tulsa is the main destination (50%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Jenks, in brief
Jenks has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Jenks went from 4,831 in 2013 to 8,136 in 2023, +68%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Jenks’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jenks is better than 89% of U.S. towns, #4 of 131 in Oklahoma. Household income is its strongest input ($111,004, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (6.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jenks could be anywhere from A− to A+.
What Jenks’ employers do
8,136 jobs are based in Jenks.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jenks, 2013 → 2023: 4,831 → 8,136. 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 Jenks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Jenks, and who commutes in
On a workday 10,518 residents head out to work, 1,044 work right here, and 7,092 people come in from elsewhere.
About 25,000 people are in Jenks on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.70 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.
The places Jenks commutes to
Where Jenks clocks in
50% of workers
5% 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.
The daily trip from Jenks: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jenks workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,051 commuters (the 15% 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 Jenks
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.
Jenks is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jenks is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #96 of 131 in Oklahoma. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 12,948 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 18% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.9% of Jenks households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Jenks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,409 U.S. towns of 20,000 to 38,000, Jenks comes 276th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 274 | South Pasadena CA | 25,503 | $127K | 4.9% | 5.1% | 5% | A |
| 275 | Hawthorne NJ | 20,169 | $110K | 4.0% | 5.1% | 7% | A |
| 276 | Jenks OK | 28,175 | $111K | 6.8% | 2.6% | 9% | A |
| 277 | Wauconda Township IL | 23,521 | $112K | 5.3% | 3.6% | 9% | A |
| 278 | Maplewood Township NJ | 26,320 | $174K | 3.3% | 6.7% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 396 | Bixby OK | 32,766 | $104K | 5.6% | 3.7% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 711 | Yukon OK | 27,615 | $75K | 8.8% | 4.0% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 750 | Mustang OK | 24,571 | $88K | 8.0% | 5.7% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,409 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Jenks, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
56% of Jenks works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Tulsa. Darker towns draw more of Jenks’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 Jenks: questions
What is the median household income in Jenks?
$111,004 (±$6,394) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jenks?
6.8%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jenks?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jenks work?
9% work in town.
Is Jenks walkable?
Jenks is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jenks without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jenks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jenks
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.