Photo: Scott5114 · CC BY-SA 3.0Meeker’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 9% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C: more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 25 minutes each way (Oklahoma 22, U.S. 26). Only 5% work in Meeker; the top destination outside it is Oklahoma City (24%, 35 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Meeker
Meeker’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Meeker is Oklahoma City, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 24% of working residents (92) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Meeker than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Meeker fell from 382 in 2013 to 273 in 2023, −29%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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 378 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Meeker’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Meeker is better than 9% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Meeker’s grade up (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,190, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Meeker’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Meeker stays D.
Half of Meeker commutes less than 30 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
273 jobs are based in Meeker. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Meeker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Meeker, 2013 → 2023: 382 → 273. 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.
Meeker quiets down on a workday
On a workday 358 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 253 people come in from elsewhere.
About 930 people are in Meeker on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.72 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.
24% of working residents work in Oklahoma City
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Meeker clocks in
24% of workers
17% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 25 minutes each way, longer than most of Oklahoma
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Meeker workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 385 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Oklahoma: 85% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Most trips from Meeker start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Meeker is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.0% 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 432 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). 3.5% of Meeker households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Meeker’s commuters take a bus or train.
Meeker is 2,620th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Meeker, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Forest Park OK | 1,035 | $104K | 0.4% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 692 | Oologah OK | 1,358 | $80K | 9.4% | 7.6% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 929 | Okarche OK | 1,196 | $94K | 11.8% | 0.8% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,618 | Brocton NY | 1,310 | $59K | 24.6% | 5.8% | 6% | D |
| 2,619 | Sardinia OH | 1,101 | $58K | 25.9% | 3.8% | 1% | D |
| 2,620 | Meeker OK | 1,031 | $41K | 25.2% | 4.1% | 5% | D |
| 2,621 | Taft Heights CA | 1,291 | $54K | 16.2% | 12.8% | 1% | D |
| 2,622 | Maxwell CA | 1,245 | $68K | 20.5% | 10.2% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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.
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 Meeker: questions
What is the median household income in Meeker?
$41,190 (±$4,895) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Meeker?
25.2%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Meeker?
25 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Meeker work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (24%, 35 mi), Shawnee (17%, 9 mi), Tulsa (3%, 71 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Meeker walkable?
Meeker is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Meeker without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Meeker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Meeker
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.