Administration Building · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Wilburton has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
About two in five stay in Wilburton for work; outside it, McAlester is the main destination (9%, 27 miles). The poverty rate is 27.1%, next to 15.3% for Oklahoma as a whole. Wilburton grades D− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Wilburton, in a few figures
Wilburton is where the jobs are
Wilburton has 1,710 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,300 people are in town, 41% more than the 2,300 who live here. Day and night ↓
Wilburton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Wilburton is McAlester, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (70) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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 ↓
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 757 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Wilburton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wilburton is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Wilburton’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wilburton could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who leaves Wilburton for work, and who comes in
On a workday 467 residents head out to work, 290 work right here, and 1,420 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Wilburton on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
2.3 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
How far Wilburton goes to work
About 33% 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.
Where Wilburton’s workforce comes from
Where Wilburton clocks in
9% of workers
4% 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.
What work there is in Wilburton: 1,710 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wilburton, 2013 → 2023: 2,231 → 1,710. 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 Wilburton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Wilburton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wilburton workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 936 commuters (the 3% 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 Wilburton, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wilburton is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.5% across Oklahoma, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 961 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 Wilburton households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wilburton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wilburton and other U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,279 | Kiefer OK | 2,310 | $83K | 10.4% | 3.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,280 | Union City OK | 2,129 | $106K | 11.5% | 2.9% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,377 | Norwood OK | 1,752 | $89K | 8.2% | 0.0% | <1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,185 | Charleston MS | 1,688 | $37K | 27.1% | 12.7% | 24% | D− |
| 5,186 | Hooker OK | 1,706 | $49K | 28.4% | 6.3% | 19% | D− |
| 5,187 | Wilburton OK | 2,308 | $39K | 27.1% | 8.1% | 38% | D− |
| 5,188 | Myrtle Point OR | 2,462 | $48K | 20.2% | 11.8% | 16% | D− |
| 5,189 | Royal City WA | 1,896 | $50K | 35.8% | 18.0% | 16% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Wilburton, 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 Wilburton: questions
What is the median household income in Wilburton?
$38,971 (±$5,821) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wilburton?
27.1%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wilburton?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wilburton work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are McAlester (9%, 27 mi), Durant (4%, 89 mi), Oklahoma City (3%, 130 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wilburton walkable?
Wilburton is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wilburton without a car?
0% 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 Wilburton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wilburton
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.