Photo: TulGuy · CC BY 4.0Households in Yale earn less than those in 94% of U.S. towns
Yale grades D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 27.7%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma. About one in ten work in Yale; the top destination outside it is Stillwater (17%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Yale apart on work
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 ↓
Yale 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 471 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Yale’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Yale is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Yale’s grade.
Unemployment (5.6%) is left out: Yale’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, Yale could be anywhere from D− to D.
How many miles Yale commutes
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.
Getting to work from Yale takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Yale workers work from home, vs 9% across Oklahoma. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 472 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.
The daily flow of workers through Yale
On a workday 423 residents head out to work, 48 work right here, and 161 people come in from elsewhere.
About 790 people are in Yale on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.44 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.
The places Yale commutes to
Where Yale clocks in
17% of workers
8% 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.
The 209 jobs based in Yale
209 jobs are based in Yale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Yale, 2013 → 2023: 272 → 209. 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 Yale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Yale is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Yale is more walkable than 71% 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 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 484 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). 5.9% of Yale households have no vehicle (Oklahoma 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Yale’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Yale compares with U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Forest Park OK | 1,035 | $104K | 0.4% | 1.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 692 | Oologah OK | 1,358 | $80K | 9.4% | 7.6% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 929 | Okarche OK | 1,196 | $94K | 11.8% | 0.8% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,947 | Ash Flat AR | 1,156 | $42K | 22.4% | 4.6% | 20% | D− |
| 2,948 | Stanton MI | 1,383 | $49K | 31.2% | 8.4% | 11% | D− |
| 2,949 | Yale OK | 1,054 | $43K | 27.7% | 5.6% | 10% | D− |
| 2,950 | Benavides TX | 1,099 | $45K | 21.9% | 0.0% | 9% | D− |
| 2,951 | Gray Township IL | 1,018 | $51K | 28.8% | 10.5% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Yale, 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 Yale: questions
What is the median household income in Yale?
$42,750 (±$7,230) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $65,039 across Oklahoma and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Yale?
27.7%, against 15.3% across Oklahoma and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Yale?
29 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Oklahoma and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Yale work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stillwater (17%, 21 mi), Oklahoma City (8%, 64 mi), Tulsa (8%, 45 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Yale walkable?
Yale is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Yale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Yale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Yale
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.