John Frank House · Photo: Jeff M. Jones · Public domainHouseholds in Sapulpa have lower incomes than those in 68% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 14.2%; Oklahoma has 15.3%. Sapulpa grades B− for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in seven stay in Sapulpa for work; outside it, Tulsa is the main destination (36%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Sapulpa
The figures behind Sapulpa’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sapulpa is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #25 of 131 in Oklahoma. Job access by car holds Sapulpa’s grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sapulpa could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Where Sapulpa’s working residents head each day
Where Sapulpa clocks in
36% of workers
9% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Sapulpa
On a workday 9,613 residents head out to work, 1,316 work right here, and 7,425 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 (0.80 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 Sapulpa’s employers do
8,741 jobs are based in Sapulpa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sapulpa, 2013 → 2023: 8,500 → 8,741. 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 Sapulpa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Sapulpa: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sapulpa workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,291 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.
Miles to work from Sapulpa
About 23% 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.
Most of Sapulpa commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sapulpa is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #108 of 131 in Oklahoma. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 10,110 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). 6.7% of Sapulpa households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Sapulpa’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Sapulpa ranks: 1,025th of 1,577 U.S. towns of 17,000 to 32,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 317 | Jenks OK | 28,175 | $111K | 6.8% | 2.6% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 796 | Yukon OK | 27,615 | $75K | 8.8% | 4.0% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 833 | Mustang OK | 24,571 | $88K | 8.0% | 5.7% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,023 | Tukwila WA | 22,003 | $78K | 13.0% | 6.4% | 7% | B− |
| 1,024 | North Plainfield NJ | 22,879 | $87K | 13.2% | 8.8% | 4% | B− |
| 1,025 | Sapulpa OK | 23,695 | $64K | 14.2% | 3.2% | 12% | B− |
| 1,026 | Marina CA | 23,256 | $96K | 12.2% | 5.9% | 8% | B− |
| 1,027 | Reisterstown MD | 25,582 | $86K | 10.7% | 9.0% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Sapulpa, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
Next door is work for 41% of Sapulpa
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sapulpa workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sapulpa | – | B− | C | 22 min | $63,817 |
| Oakhurst | under 2% | C | C | 21 min | $57,222 |
| Kellyville | under 2% | C | D | 24 min | $53,393 |
| Jenks | 2% | A | C+ | 21 min | $111,004 |
| Mounds | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Tulsa | 36% | C | A− | 19 min | $59,838 |
| Kiefer | under 2% | B+ | D | 25 min | $83,317 |
| Glenpool | 1% | B+ | C | 24 min | $79,525 |
| Sand Springs | 2% | B− | B− | 21 min | $75,645 |
Same-state neighbors only. Mounds: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Tulsa. Darker towns draw more of Sapulpa’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 Sapulpa: questions
What is the median household income in Sapulpa?
$63,817 (±$4,056) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sapulpa?
14.2%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sapulpa?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sapulpa work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tulsa (36%, 15 mi), Oklahoma City (9%, 86 mi), Broken Arrow (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sapulpa walkable?
Sapulpa is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sapulpa without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sapulpa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sapulpa
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.