Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Vian trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 24.2% of residents, where Oklahoma as a whole has 15.3%. Vian grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Only 5% work in Vian; the top destination outside it is Sallisaw (12%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Vian in brief
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Vian than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Vian fell from 391 in 2013 to 265 in 2023, −32%. 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 ↓
Vian workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 22 across Oklahoma. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 391 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Vian
Job access by car holds Vian’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,250, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.2%) is left out: Vian’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, Vian could be anywhere from D− to D.
How far it is to work from Vian
About 39% 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.
What work there is in Vian: 265 jobs
265 jobs are based in Vian.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vian, 2013 → 2023: 391 → 265. 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 Vian’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes to work from Vian
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vian workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 466 commuters (the 6% 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.
Who leaves Vian for work, and who comes in
On a workday 371 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 245 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.
0.68 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.
Where Vian goes to work
Where Vian clocks in
12% of workers
9% of workers
8% 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.
Vian is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vian is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Vian 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 496 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). 14.6% of Vian households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Vian’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Vian is 5,274th among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 5,272 | Robersonville NC | 1,237 | $44K | 29.8% | 7.4% | 8% | D |
| 5,273 | Beaver OK | 1,213 | $56K | 18.2% | 0.9% | 32% | D |
| 5,274 | Vian OK | 1,386 | $41K | 24.2% | 9.2% | 5% | D |
| 5,275 | Milford Township IL | 1,437 | $54K | 18.8% | 2.6% | 11% | D |
| 5,276 | Union Township IN | 1,256 | $44K | 18.1% | 7.0% | 12% | 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 Vian, 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 Vian: questions
What is the median household income in Vian?
$41,250 (±$6,433) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vian?
24.2%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vian?
29 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vian work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sallisaw (12%, 10 mi), Tulsa (9%, 68 mi), Muskogee (8%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vian walkable?
Vian is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vian without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vian, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vian
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.