Sayre Rock Island Depot · Photo: Crimsonedge34 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Sayre have lower incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Sayre are D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Poverty touches 43.8% of residents (Oklahoma 15.3%). About one in four work in Sayre itself; outside it, Elk City draws the most (16%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sayre: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Sayre than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Sayre fell from 1,617 in 2013 to 905 in 2023, −44%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Sayre and Elk City trade workers both ways
Elk City is the top workplace for Sayre residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Sayre come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Sayre
On income, poverty and job access, Sayre is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #131 of 131 in Oklahoma. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sayre’s grade.
Unemployment (14.7%) is left out: Sayre’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Sayre stays D−.
What work there is in Sayre: 905 jobs
905 jobs are based in Sayre.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sayre, 2013 → 2023: 1,617 → 905. 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 Sayre’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Sayre goes to work
Where Sayre clocks in
11% 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 distance from Sayre to work
About 40% 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.
A workday in Sayre: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 863 residents head out to work, 326 work right here, and 579 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 (0.76 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 from Sayre: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sayre workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 694 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.
In Sayre, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sayre is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #16 of 131 in Oklahoma. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.5% across Oklahoma, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 718 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). 7.2% of Sayre households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sayre’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sayre and other U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Nichols Hills OK | 3,864 | $208K | 2.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 766 | Verdigris OK | 5,888 | $84K | 6.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 974 | Goldsby OK | 3,591 | $103K | 11.2% | 2.4% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,921 | Pahokee FL | 5,794 | $53K | 32.1% | 16.5% | 11% | D− |
| 3,922 | Ashburn GA | 4,211 | $30K | 26.3% | 20.3% | 17% | D− |
| 3,923 | Sayre OK | 4,783 | $41K | 43.8% | 14.7% | 27% | D− |
| 3,924 | Fayette AL | 4,060 | $36K | 42.0% | 17.7% | 29% | D− |
| 3,925 | Monroeville AL | 5,758 | $33K | 28.8% | 11.3% | 25% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,946 | 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 Sayre, 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 Sayre: questions
What is the median household income in Sayre?
$41,227 (±$4,994) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sayre?
43.8%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sayre?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sayre work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elk City (16%, 13 mi), Oklahoma City (11%, 120 mi), Clinton (2%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sayre walkable?
Sayre is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sayre without a car?
0% 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 Sayre, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sayre
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.