Work & commute · Oak

Work & commute in Oak, KS

Most working residents leave Oak for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Smith Center (27%), Kensington (10%) and Phillipsburg (6%). Half commute less than 25 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

5 of 88 working residents

Typical commute

25 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

13 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 83 Oak residents head out of town to work, 5 work right here, and 48 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Oak.

83live here, work elsewhere

5live and work here

48work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Oak goes to work

Smith Center11.9 mi away

27%24

Kensington25.2 mi away

10%9

Phillipsburg40.5 mi away

6%5

Blaine6 mi away

6%5

Dodge City160.4 mi away

3%3

Oak (in town)right here

3%3

Glade40.6 mi away

2%2

Lebanon1.8 mi away

2%2

Salina84 mi away

2%2

Wichita158.8 mi away

2%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

35%31

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Oak commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

16%

30%

29%

25%

16%Under 10 mi

30%10–24 mi

29%25–50 mi

25%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Oak is a commuter town

0.60jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.60 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Oak are

53 jobs are based in Oak. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Oak’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Oak

53 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities38%

Services (health, schools, offices…)51%

$1,250 a month or less26%

$1,251–$3,333 a month17%

Over $3,333 a month57%

Jobs Oak residents hold

88 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less26%

$1,251–$3,333 a month41%

Over $3,333 a month33%

+8%

Jobs based in Oak, 2013 → 2023: 49 → 53. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.