Work & commute · Chelsea

Work & commute in Chelsea, OK

Most working residents leave Chelsea for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are Claremore (17%), Tulsa (16%) and Oklahoma City (8%). Half commute less than 29 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16%

113 of 729 working residents

Typical commute

29 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

30 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 616 Chelsea residents head out of town to work, 113 work right here, and 429 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Chelsea.

616live here, work elsewhere

113live and work here

429work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Chelsea goes to work

Claremore17.9 mi away

17%124

Tulsa38.2 mi away

16%119

Chelsea (in town)right here

16%113

Oklahoma City137.5 mi away

8%58

Broken Arrow39.2 mi away

4%27

Catoosa30.7 mi away

4%26

Pryor Creek17.5 mi away

3%20

Owasso28 mi away

2%13

Muskogee54.6 mi away

1%9

Sapulpa52.9 mi away

1%8

Everywhere elseother towns and states

29%212

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

How far

How far Chelsea commutes

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

21%

26%

34%

19%

21%Under 10 mi

26%10–24 mi

34%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Chelsea is a commuter town

0.74jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Chelsea are

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

Jobs based in Chelsea

542 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)17%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less26%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month36%

Jobs Chelsea residents hold

729 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)22%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)57%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month48%

+13%

Jobs based in Chelsea, 2013 → 2023: 480 → 542. 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.