Households in Okeene earn less than those in 77% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Okeene; the top destination outside it is Oklahoma City (10%, 64 miles). 30.6% of residents are in poverty, against 15.3% across Oklahoma. Okeene grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Okeene at work: what stands out
Okeene’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Okeene is Oklahoma City, 64 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (60) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Okeene makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Okeene are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Okeene residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. 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 579 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Okeene’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Okeene is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Okeene’s grade up ($57,917, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (10.5%) is left out: Okeene’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Okeene could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How far Okeene’s workers travel
About 41% 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.
In Okeene, 37% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
585 jobs are based in Okeene.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Okeene, 2013 → 2023: 803 → 585. 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 Okeene’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Okeene by day
On a workday 408 residents head out to work, 171 work right here, and 414 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.01 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.
The towns that employ Okeene’s residents
Where Okeene clocks in
10% of workers
3% 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 17 minutes each way, quicker than most of Oklahoma
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Okeene workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 433 commuters (the 3% 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.
Driving is how Okeene gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Okeene is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.5% across Oklahoma, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 448 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). 1.9% of Okeene households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Okeene’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, and where Okeene sits
| # | 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− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,933 | Beulaville NC | 1,176 | $37K | 26.5% | 2.9% | 11% | D− |
| 2,934 | Konawa OK | 1,242 | $34K | 24.6% | 3.0% | 10% | D− |
| 2,935 | Okeene OK | 1,047 | $58K | 30.6% | 10.5% | 30% | D− |
| 2,936 | Chesterfield SC | 1,357 | $45K | 28.3% | 10.0% | 9% | D− |
| 2,937 | Hanover Township IL | 1,150 | $44K | 19.3% | 8.1% | 3% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Okeene, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
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 Okeene: questions
What is the median household income in Okeene?
$57,917 (±$18,123) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Okeene?
30.6%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Okeene?
17 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Okeene work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (10%, 64 mi), Enid (3%, 32 mi), Fairview (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Okeene walkable?
Okeene is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Okeene without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Okeene, from the people who make the trip.
More of Okeene
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.