Photo: kennethaw88 · CC BY 4.0Shawnee’s household incomes are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
20.8% of residents live below the poverty line, where Oklahoma as a whole has 15.3%. For jobs and income Shawnee is better than 20% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in four stay in Shawnee for work; outside it, Oklahoma City is the main destination (22%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Shawnee at work: what stands out
Shawnee’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Shawnee is Oklahoma City, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (2,653) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Shawnee trades workers with the towns around it
Shawnee has about as many jobs (13,384) as working residents (11,882), but they are mostly different people: 8,494 residents leave for work each day while 9,996 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Shawnee are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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 Shawnee
Job access by car holds Shawnee’s grade up (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shawnee could be anywhere from C− to C.
The commute from Shawnee, by distance
About 15% 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.
Shawnee by day and by night
On a workday 8,494 residents head out to work, 3,388 work right here, and 9,996 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 (1.13 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.
Where Shawnee’s working residents head each day
Where Shawnee clocks in
22% 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.
Jobs in Shawnee: what the 13,384 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shawnee, 2013 → 2023: 13,746 → 13,384. 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 Shawnee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Shawnee’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shawnee workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,978 commuters (the 7% 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 Shawnee, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% 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 12,882 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). 5.3% of Shawnee households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Shawnee’s commuters take a bus or train.
Shawnee next to U.S. towns of 23,000 to 44,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 261 | Jenks OK | 28,175 | $111K | 6.8% | 2.6% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 372 | Bixby OK | 32,766 | $104K | 5.6% | 3.7% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 665 | Yukon OK | 27,615 | $75K | 8.8% | 4.0% | 10% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,178 | Hobbs NM | 40,863 | $64K | 19.7% | 6.3% | 56% | C− |
| 1,179 | Statesville NC | 32,181 | $53K | 20.4% | 6.8% | 28% | C− |
| 1,180 | Shawnee OK | 32,474 | $56K | 20.8% | 6.0% | 29% | C− |
| 1,181 | Hopewell VA | 23,261 | $55K | 21.8% | 9.2% | 12% | C− |
| 1,182 | Bay City MI | 31,868 | $49K | 19.1% | 6.7% | 20% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Shawnee, the top three, the last and three more from Oklahoma.
The towns around Shawnee
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shawnee workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawnee | – | C− | B+ | 20 min | $55,815 |
| Bethel Acres | under 2% | B | C+ | 30 min | $75,909 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Shawnee’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 Shawnee: questions
What is the median household income in Shawnee?
$55,815 (±$2,005) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shawnee?
20.8%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shawnee?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shawnee work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oklahoma City (22%, 32 mi), Norman (3%, 24 mi), Tulsa (3%, 79 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shawnee walkable?
Shawnee is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shawnee without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shawnee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shawnee
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.