Photo: TulGuy · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Salina are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
32.6% of residents live below the poverty line (Oklahoma 15.3%). For jobs and income Salina is better than 2% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in seven work in Salina itself; outside it, Tulsa draws the most (13%, 43 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Salina apart on work
Salina’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Salina is Tulsa, 43 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (54) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Salina has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Salina went from 407 in 2013 to 597 in 2023, +47%. 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 431 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Salina’s grade explained
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Salina’s grade.
Unemployment (9.7%) is left out: Salina’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, Salina could be anywhere from D− to D.
How far Salina goes to work
About 17% 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.
Jobs in Salina: what the 597 are
597 jobs are based in Salina.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salina, 2013 → 2023: 407 → 597. 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 Salina’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Salina, and who commutes in
On a workday 365 residents head out to work, 66 work right here, and 531 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Salina on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 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.
Commuting out of Salina: the destinations
Where Salina clocks in
13% of workers
11% of workers
4% 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.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Salina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salina workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 393 commuters (the 6% 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.
For most of Salina, work means a drive
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 420 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). 13.5% of Salina households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Salina’s commuters take a bus or train.
Salina and other U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Forest Park OK | 1,035 | $104K | 0.4% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 856 | Oologah OK | 1,358 | $80K | 9.4% | 7.6% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,140 | Okarche OK | 1,196 | $94K | 11.8% | 0.8% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,640 | Tylertown MS | 1,486 | $33K | 34.2% | 11.6% | 18% | D− |
| 3,641 | Fullerton NE | 1,228 | $48K | 26.9% | 3.2% | 18% | D− |
| 3,642 | Salina OK | 1,127 | $43K | 32.6% | 9.7% | 15% | D− |
| 3,643 | Parsons WV | 1,282 | $41K | 23.6% | 15.2% | 24% | D− |
| 3,644 | Brown Township IN | 1,102 | $41K | 24.6% | 6.3% | 5% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Salina, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Salina and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Salina workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salina | – | D− | B+ | 26 min | $42,596 |
| Wickliffe | under 2% | — | — | 30 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Wickliffe: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Salina’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 Salina: questions
What is the median household income in Salina?
$42,596 (±$13,289) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salina?
32.6%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salina?
26 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salina work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tulsa (13%, 43 mi), Pryor Creek (11%, 9 mi), Claremore (4%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salina walkable?
Salina is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salina without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Salina, from the people who make the trip.
More of Salina
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.