Keys at work: jobs, income and the commute
Only 3% stay in Keys for work; outside it, Tahlequah is the main destination (27%, 8 miles). The average commute takes 26 minutes each way (Oklahoma 22, U.S. 26). Employers in Keys report 228 jobs, against 386 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Keys apart
Miles to work from Keys
About 36% 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.
Keys by day and by night
On a workday 374 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 216 people come in from elsewhere.
About 820 people are in Keys on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.59 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.
Where Keys goes to work
Where Keys clocks in
27% of workers
10% of workers
10% 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.
Jobs in Keys: what the 228 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Keys, 2013 → 2023: 100 → 228. 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 Keys’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Keys, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Keys workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 355 commuters (the 4% 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.
Around Keys: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Park Hill (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Keys’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 Keys: questions
What is the median household income in Keys?
$38,600 (±$17,117) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Keys?
32.2%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Keys?
26 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Keys work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tahlequah (27%, 8 mi), Muskogee (10%, 24 mi), Tulsa (10%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Keys without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Keys, from the people who make the trip.
More of Keys
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.