Welch at work: jobs, income and the commute
About one in ten stay in Welch for work; outside it, Miami is the main destination (13%, 12 miles). 2% of workers have no commute at all (Oklahoma 9%). Working residents average 22 minutes each way, about the same as across Oklahoma.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Welch
On a workday 171 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 181 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 (1.05 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 people from Welch work
Where Welch clocks in
13% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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.
What work there is in Welch: 200 jobs
200 jobs are based in Welch.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Welch, 2013 → 2023: 115 → 200. 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 Welch’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way for Welch’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Welch workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 201 commuters (the 2% 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.
How far Welch goes to work
About 25% 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 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 Welch: questions
What is the median household income in Welch?
$35,813 (±$7,459) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Welch?
24.4%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Welch?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Welch work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Miami (13%, 12 mi), Vinita (9%, 16 mi), Tulsa (6%, 68 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Welch without a car?
1% 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 Welch, from the people who make the trip.
More of Welch
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.