Tonkawa Lodge No. 157 A.F. & A.M. · Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Tonkawa are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
13.9% of residents live below the poverty line (Oklahoma 15.3%). Tonkawa grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in five stay in Tonkawa for work; outside it, Ponca City is the main destination (11%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Tonkawa apart
Inside Tonkawa’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tonkawa is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #71 of 131 in Oklahoma. Unemployment holds Tonkawa’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tonkawa could be anywhere from D to C.
Miles to work from Tonkawa
About 30% 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.
How many people are in Tonkawa by day
On a workday 866 residents head out to work, 251 work right here, and 598 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 out of Tonkawa: the destinations
Where Tonkawa clocks in
11% of workers
11% 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.
The 849 jobs based in Tonkawa
849 jobs are based in Tonkawa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tonkawa, 2013 → 2023: 1,028 → 849. 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 Tonkawa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Tonkawa
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tonkawa workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,156 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.
In Tonkawa, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tonkawa is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #28 of 131 in Oklahoma. Both inputs place Tonkawa near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,214 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). 3.9% of Tonkawa households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tonkawa’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tonkawa places 3,648th of 4,618 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Nichols Hills OK | 3,864 | $208K | 2.8% | 0.3% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 944 | Goldsby OK | 3,591 | $103K | 11.2% | 2.4% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,272 | Kiefer OK | 2,310 | $83K | 10.4% | 3.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,646 | Dunean SC | 3,668 | $49K | 20.5% | 9.7% | 2% | C− |
| 3,647 | Mountain View AR | 2,940 | $29K | 23.1% | 0.0% | 32% | C− |
| 3,648 | Tonkawa OK | 2,983 | $59K | 13.9% | 4.9% | 22% | C− |
| 3,649 | Luzerne PA | 2,744 | $42K | 19.9% | 6.4% | 5% | C− |
| 3,650 | Lyford TX | 2,210 | $56K | 20.8% | 7.3% | 11% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Tonkawa, 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 Tonkawa: questions
What is the median household income in Tonkawa?
$58,767 (±$1,607) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tonkawa?
13.9%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tonkawa?
19 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tonkawa work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ponca City (11%, 14 mi), Oklahoma City (11%, 84 mi), Tulsa (3%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tonkawa walkable?
Tonkawa is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tonkawa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tonkawa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tonkawa
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.