City · Beckham County, Oklahoma

Elk City, Oklahoma

Elk City is a city in Beckham County, Oklahoma, part of the Elk City, OK metro area. It has 11,361 residents. Elk City, Oklahoma has a quality-of-life score of 22 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,195 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Oklahoma it ranks #73 of 237 cities and towns. It ranks best on time spent in the emergency room (low), average commute time (low) and homicide rate (low). It ranks worst on dental care shortage (high), voter turnout (low) and primary care shortage (high).

22Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,195 of 15,651 cities and towns
Oklahoma: #73 of 237 in OK
Population: 11,361 (2020-2024)
Land area: 16 mi²
Density: 707.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 4023500

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety67#5,232/15,637
Economy10#14,060/15,631
Housing61#5,793/14,977
Health11#13,918/15,609
Healthcare22#12,233/15,650
Environment37#9,730/15,453
Education19#12,604/15,649
Infrastructure34#10,302/15,650
Community38#9,707/15,651
Leisure & amenities38#9,768/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Elk City, Oklahoma ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Beckham 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

Time spent in the emergency room · low88 min
99/100Oklahoma 122 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBeckham County value
Average commute time · low14.0 min
97/100Oklahoma 22.4 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Oklahoma 6.4 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBeckham County value
Pharmacies · high2.7 /10k
93/100Oklahoma 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBeckham County value
Social associations · high14.1 /10k
87/100Oklahoma 11.1 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBeckham County value
Job growth · high0.9%
75/100Oklahoma 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataBeckham County value

Weaknesses

Dental care shortage · high20.0
1/100Oklahoma 7.8United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationBeckham County value
Voter turnout · low46.6%
2/100Oklahoma 53.8%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionBeckham County value
Primary care shortage · high19.0
3/100Oklahoma 11.0United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationBeckham County value
Mammography screening · low34.0%
6/100Oklahoma 44.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBeckham County value
Traffic deaths · high30.7 /100k
7/100Oklahoma 17.3 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataBeckham County value
Drought exposure · high88%
7/100Oklahoma 67%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAABeckham County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedWorsening
0.3 /1k (2021) → 0.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−100%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
32.0% (2015-2019) → 51.2% (2020-2024)
+19 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
77.4% (2015-2019) → 87.2% (2020-2024)
+9.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
17.0% (2015-2019) → 12.5% (2020-2024)
−4.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Unemployment rateWorsening
3.9% (2015-2019) → 8.4% (2020-2024)
+4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Average commute timeImproving
17.9 min (2015-2019) → 14.0 min (2020-2024)
−22%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

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, Elk City, Oklahoma improved on 1 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 10 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.

Improved1

Broadband+9.8 points77.4% → 87.2%

Declined3

Unemployment+4.4 points3.9% → 8.4%
Rent burden+19 points32.0% → 51.2%
Rent / income+4.2 points26.3% → 30.5%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Elk City, Oklahoma between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.9 min2015-2019	14.0 min2020-2024	−3.9 min	Within the margin of error	85%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.7%2015-2019	14.5%2020-2024	−3.2 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Broadband subscriptions	77.4%2015-2019	87.2%2020-2024	+9.8 points	Improved	59%
Child poverty rate	30.7%2015-2019	28.3%2020-2024	−2.3 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Effective property tax rate	0.80%2015-2019	0.85%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	11%
High school diploma or higher	87.7%2015-2019	86.2%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Within the margin of error	18%
Home price to income ratio	3.3×2015-2019	2.9×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	90%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4522015-2019	0.4142020-2024	−0.038	Within the margin of error	79%
Median household income	$47,8502015-2019	$51,2722020-2024	+7.2%	Within the margin of error	14%
Poverty rate	21.0%2015-2019	22.8%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	27%
Rent as share of income	26.3%2015-2019	30.5%2020-2024	+4.2 points	Declined	26%
Rent-burdened households	32.0%2015-2019	51.2%2020-2024	+19 points	Declined	9%
Unemployment rate	3.9%2015-2019	8.4%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Declined	5%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	17.0%2015-2019	12.5%2020-2024	−4.5 points	Within the margin of error	85%

“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 Elk City, Oklahoma five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Elk City, 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, Elk City, Oklahoma itself moved −7.6 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

11,361 residents (±39)

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

4,976 households (±282)

Elk City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Under $25k22%1,091
$25k–50k26%1,283
$50k–75k20%1,004

Homes

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

Owners and renters

4,976 households (±282)

Elk City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Own64%3,198
Rent36%1,778

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

4,504 workers (±437)

Elk City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Drive alone79%3,571
Carpool14%†617
Public transit0.4%†

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Elk City, OK

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 Beckham County, the county holding most of Elk City's residents.

Beckham County has 690 employer establishments, 312 for every 10,000 residents (1.26× the US rate of 248; 1.32× Oklahoma's), with 6,782 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,801. The Census Bureau also counts 1,753 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 690; 1,753 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 312; US 248 · Oklahoma 237
Paid employees: 6,782
Average annual pay: $47,801; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	61	27.6	1.32×More than typical	407	$54,563	59
Restaurants and other eating places	42	19	1.04×About typical	738	$15,511	16
Truck transportation	32	14.5	2.86×More than typical	383	$76,554	68
Religious organizations	31	14	2.53×More than typical	151	$19,278	—
Specialty trade contractors	24	10.9	0.70×Fewer than typical	205	$50,771	163
Automotive repair and maintenance	21	9.5	1.89×More than typical	105	$50,257	45
Limited-service restaurants	21	9.5	1.19×About typical	467	$16,223	4
Offices of physicians	20	9.1	1.40×More than typical	129	$68,093	7
Gasoline stations	19	8.6	2.65×More than typical	444	$27,214	—
Lessors of real estate	18	8.1	0.66×Fewer than typical	88	$26,739	162
Offices of other health practitioners	18	8.1	1.34×More than typical	65	$35,800	28
Full-service restaurants	16	7.2	0.94×About typical	221	$13,900	10

Rank places for an industry Open Beckham County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 22,094 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 Elk City, 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

546.5FY2017
6.3KFY2025

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 Elk City, Oklahoma, so they do not add up across cities.

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

See federal money in Beckham 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.

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

House

Frank D. LucasR-OK-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 1.6%

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.

Beckham County26100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Elk City, OK27

Other cities and towns in Beckham 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/4023500

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends