First National Bank Building · Photo: Melodibit · CC BY-SA 3.0Stratford’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
26.5% of residents are in poverty; Oklahoma has 15.3%. The two grades for Stratford are D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in ten work in Stratford; the top destination outside it is Ada (16%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Stratford: the gist
Income, poverty and work: Stratford’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Stratford is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Stratford’s grade.
Unemployment (7.1%) is left out: Stratford’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, Stratford could be anywhere from D− to D.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Stratford
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stratford workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 439 commuters (the 5% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Stratford
On a workday 419 residents head out to work, 45 work right here, and 195 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Stratford on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.52 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Out of Stratford to work: where people go
Where Stratford clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
Stratford is a services town
240 jobs are based in Stratford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stratford, 2013 → 2023: 268 → 240. 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 Stratford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Stratford to work
About 29% 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.
Few in Stratford walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stratford is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 462 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). 7.4% of Stratford households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stratford’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, and where Stratford sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Forest Park OK | 1,035 | $104K | 0.4% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 812 | Justice OK | 1,530 | $98K | 7.5% | 2.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,417 | Oologah OK | 1,358 | $80K | 9.4% | 7.6% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,519 | Polkton NC | 1,722 | $47K | 30.4% | 2.5% | 2% | D− |
| 5,520 | Beverly OH | 1,200 | $46K | 25.0% | 1.5% | 9% | D− |
| 5,521 | Stratford OK | 1,437 | $41K | 26.5% | 7.1% | 10% | D− |
| 5,522 | Troy PA | 1,227 | $51K | 29.7% | 1.7% | 15% | D− |
| 5,523 | Howland ME | 1,166 | $49K | 25.2% | 10.0% | 13% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Stratford, 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 Stratford: questions
What is the median household income in Stratford?
$41,302 (±$4,820) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stratford?
26.5%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stratford?
28 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stratford work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ada (16%, 17 mi), Pauls Valley (6%, 16 mi), Sulphur (5%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stratford walkable?
Stratford is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stratford 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 Stratford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stratford
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.