City · McIntosh County, Oklahoma

Checotah, Oklahoma

Checotah is a city in McIntosh County, Oklahoma. It has 3,064 residents. Checotah, Oklahoma has a quality-of-life score of 2 out of 100 (very low), ranking #15,284 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Oklahoma it ranks #223 of 237 cities and towns. It ranks best on average commute time (low), grocery stores (high) and public libraries (high). It ranks worst on average weekly wage (low), mental health care shortage (high) and dental care shortage (high).

2Very low

Quality-of-life score: #15,284 of 15,651 cities and towns
Oklahoma: #223 of 237 in OK
Population: 3,064 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 341.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 4013650

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety8#14,439/15,637
Economy2#15,300/15,631
Housing72#4,267/14,977
Health1#15,476/15,609
Healthcare1#15,424/15,650
Environment9#14,025/15,453
Education11#13,872/15,649
Infrastructure9#14,184/15,650
Community7#14,561/15,651
Leisure & amenities48#8,066/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Checotah, Oklahoma ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “McIntosh County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Average commute time · low17.8 min
91/100Oklahoma 22.4 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Grocery stores · high2.5 /10k
89/100Oklahoma 1.2 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMcIntosh County value
Public libraries · high1.0 /10k
76/100Oklahoma 0.5 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesMcIntosh County value
Rent-burdened households · low48.9%
73/100Oklahoma 46.3%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Restaurants and bars · high10.1 /10k
73/100Oklahoma 8.3 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMcIntosh County value
Rent as share of income · low29.6%
72/100Oklahoma 28.4%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071

Weaknesses

Average weekly wage · low$769
0/100Oklahoma $1,173United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMcIntosh County value
Mental health care shortage · high21.0
0/100Oklahoma 15.8United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationMcIntosh County value
Dental care shortage · high20.0
1/100Oklahoma 7.8United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationMcIntosh County value
Broadband subscriptions · low76.2%
2/100Oklahoma 88.9%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Adult smoking · high24.5%
2/100Oklahoma 18.6%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high25.9%
3/100Oklahoma 14.4%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateImproving
41.5% (2015-2019) → 25.6% (2020-2024)
−16 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
61.9% (2015-2019) → 76.2% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
38.2% (2015-2019) → 48.9% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Poverty rateImproving
28.6% (2015-2019) → 18.8% (2020-2024)
−9.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.4× (2015-2019) → 3.4× (2020-2024)
+39%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
New homes permittedWorsening
1.3 /1k (2021) → 1.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−26%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Checotah, Oklahoma improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 11 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Poverty−9.8 points28.6% → 18.8%
Child poverty−16 points41.5% → 25.6%
Broadband+14 points61.9% → 76.2%

Declined1

Price / income+0.9×2.4× → 3.4×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Checotah, Oklahoma between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.0 min2015-2019	17.8 min2020-2024	−4.2 min	Within the margin of error	86%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.9%2015-2019	10.7%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	26%
Broadband subscriptions	61.9%2015-2019	76.2%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	77%
Child poverty rate	41.5%2015-2019	25.6%2020-2024	−16 points	Improved	90%
Effective property tax rate	0.71%2015-2019	0.72%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	14%
High school diploma or higher	81.2%2015-2019	85.0%2020-2024	+3.8 points	Within the margin of error	75%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	24%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4492015-2019	0.4332020-2024	−0.016	Within the margin of error	65%
Median household income	$35,5172015-2019	$37,0422020-2024	+4.3%	Within the margin of error	11%
Poverty rate	28.6%2015-2019	18.8%2020-2024	−9.8 points	Improved	92%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	26.1%2015-2019	29.6%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	30%
Rent-burdened households	38.2%2015-2019	48.9%2020-2024	+11 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Unemployment rate	6.8%2015-2019	7.4%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	37%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	29.7%2015-2019	25.9%2020-2024	−3.7 points	Within the margin of error	81%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Checotah, Oklahoma five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Checotah, Oklahoma in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Checotah, Oklahoma itself moved −5.5 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,064 residents (±17)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,266 households (±109)

Checotah, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Under $25k29%†368
$25k–50k34%433
$50k–75k13%†170

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,266 households (±109)

Checotah, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Own58%735
Rent42%531

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,186 workers (±158)

Checotah, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Drive alone82%967
Carpool5.8%†69
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of McIntosh County, the county holding most of Checotah's residents.

McIntosh County has 333 employer establishments, 169 for every 10,000 residents (0.68× the US rate of 248; 0.71× Oklahoma's), with 3,241 paid employees at an average annual pay of $36,829. The Census Bureau also counts 1,614 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 333; 1,614 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 169; US 248 · Oklahoma 237
Paid employees: 3,241
Average annual pay: $36,829; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of McIntosh County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	33	16.8	0.91×About typical	475	$19,465	12
Ambulatory health care services	30	15.3	0.73×Fewer than typical	344	$51,922	39
Full-service restaurants	19	9.7	1.26×More than typical	211	$22,678	5
Specialty trade contractors	19	9.7	0.62×Fewer than typical	73	$48,904	182
Religious organizations	15	7.6	1.37×More than typical	68	$17,559	—
Limited-service restaurants	13	6.6	0.82×About typical	260	$17,058	4
Gasoline stations	12	6.1	1.88×More than typical	139	$29,899	—
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	11	5.6	1.37×More than typical	89	$66,719	21
Insurance agencies and brokerages	10	5.1	1.16×About typical	46	$80,652	25
Building equipment contractors	9	4.6	0.76×Too few to compare	22	$38,864	36
Legal services	9	4.6	0.85×Too few to compare	23	$46,261	8
Truck transportation	9	4.6	0.90×Too few to compare	43	$43,186	87

Rank places for an industry Open McIntosh County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 19,672 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Checotah, Oklahoma: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

290.7FY2017
750.9FY2018
667.8FY2019
67.2FY2020
-4.1FY2021
553.8FY2022
1.1KFY2023
2.3KFY2024
1.1KFY2025

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Checotah, Oklahoma, so they do not add up across cities.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Checotah is mostly in McIntosh County.

See federal money in McIntosh County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Checotah, Oklahoma is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Josh BrecheenR-OK-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 4.7%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

McIntosh County1100% of residents

Other cities and towns in McIntosh County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4013650

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends