Okfuskee County Courthouse (Additional Documentation) · Photo: Pigdogx · CC BY-SA 4.0Okemah has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Measured by household income, Okemah is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 38.6% of residents are in poverty, against 15.3% across Oklahoma. Okemah grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Okemah and work: the main findings
Okemah’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Okemah is Oklahoma City, 68 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (102) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Okemah trades workers with the towns around it
Okemah has about as many jobs (1,246) as working residents (1,197), but they are mostly different people: 886 residents leave for work each day while 935 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Okemah are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Okemah workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Okemah’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% 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 ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Okemah
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Okemah is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #79 of 131 in Oklahoma. Unemployment holds Okemah’s grade up (1.5%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Okemah could be anywhere from D to C−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Okemah
About 37% 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.
Okemah on a workday afternoon
On a workday 886 residents head out to work, 311 work right here, and 935 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 (1.04 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.
What the 1,246 jobs in Okemah are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Okemah, 2013 → 2023: 1,219 → 1,246. 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 Okemah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
9% of working residents work in Oklahoma City
Where Okemah clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
The trip to work from Okemah: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Okemah workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 917 commuters (the 9% 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.
Okemah is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Okemah is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #12 of 131 in Oklahoma. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.5% across Oklahoma, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,008 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). 15.1% of Okemah households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Okemah’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Okemah is 3,737th of 4,562 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Nichols Hills OK | 3,864 | $208K | 2.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 954 | Goldsby OK | 3,591 | $103K | 11.2% | 2.4% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,288 | Kiefer OK | 2,310 | $83K | 10.4% | 3.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,735 | Canyon Creek WA | 3,910 | $78K | 19.1% | 8.3% | 0% | C− |
| 3,736 | St. Maries ID | 2,457 | $60K | 12.7% | 5.0% | 38% | C− |
| 3,737 | Okemah OK | 3,091 | $32K | 38.6% | 1.5% | 26% | C− |
| 3,738 | Bainbridge NY | 2,995 | $60K | 12.4% | 5.4% | 9% | C− |
| 3,739 | Dana NC | 4,147 | $60K | 24.7% | 6.4% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Okemah, 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 Okemah: questions
What is the median household income in Okemah?
$32,386 (±$5,793) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Okemah?
38.6%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Okemah?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Okemah work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (9%, 68 mi), Tulsa (8%, 53 mi), Okmulgee (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Okemah walkable?
Okemah is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Okemah without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Okemah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Okemah
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.