Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Muskogee trail those of 88% of U.S. towns
About half work in Muskogee; the top destination outside it is Tulsa (12%, 40 miles). 24.1% of residents live below the poverty line; Oklahoma has 15.3%. Jobs and income earn Muskogee D; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Muskogee stands out on work
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Muskogee
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Muskogee is better than 13% of U.S. towns, #88 of 131 in Oklahoma. Job access by car holds Muskogee’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Muskogee could be anywhere from D to C−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Muskogee
About 19% 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.
Who works in Muskogee, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 8,004 residents head out to work, 7,092 work right here, and 14,422 people come in from elsewhere.
About 43,000 people are in Muskogee on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 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 people from Muskogee work
Where Muskogee clocks in
12% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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 Muskogee: what the 21,514 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Muskogee, 2013 → 2023: 22,540 → 21,514. 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 Muskogee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 19 minutes each way for Muskogee’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Muskogee workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,494 commuters (the 8% 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.
Getting around Muskogee: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Muskogee is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #59 of 131 in Oklahoma. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 14,599 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). 9.5% of Muskogee households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Muskogee’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 26,000 to 50,000, and where Muskogee sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | Jenks OK | 28,175 | $111K | 6.8% | 2.6% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 337 | Bixby OK | 32,766 | $104K | 5.6% | 3.7% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 613 | Yukon OK | 27,615 | $75K | 8.8% | 4.0% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,123 | Leesburg FL | 38,905 | $53K | 16.4% | 10.5% | 16% | D |
| 1,124 | Richmond IN | 35,376 | $45K | 25.4% | 6.9% | 51% | D |
| 1,125 | Muskogee OK | 36,760 | $50K | 24.1% | 6.7% | 47% | D |
| 1,126 | Los Banos CA | 49,614 | $68K | 17.4% | 8.9% | 21% | D |
| 1,127 | Decatur Township IL | 45,203 | $49K | 24.2% | 9.9% | 43% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,162 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Muskogee, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Muskogee and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Fort Gibson (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Muskogee workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muskogee | – | D | B | 19 min | $50,213 |
| Fort Gibson | 2% | C+ | B− | 18 min | $68,378 |
| Summit | under 1% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Summit: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Muskogee’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 Muskogee: questions
What is the median household income in Muskogee?
$50,213 (±$3,275) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Muskogee?
24.1%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Muskogee?
19 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Muskogee work?
47% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tulsa (12%, 40 mi), Oklahoma City (4%, 123 mi), Broken Arrow (2%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Muskogee walkable?
Muskogee is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Muskogee without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Muskogee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Muskogee
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.