Town · Cotton County, Oklahoma

Temple, Oklahoma

Temple is a town in Cotton County, Oklahoma, part of the Lawton, OK metro area. It has 1,050 residents. Temple, Oklahoma has a quality-of-life score of 9 out of 100 (very low), ranking #14,235 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Oklahoma it ranks #179 of 237 cities and towns. It ranks best on suicide rate (low), firearm deaths (low) and pharmacies (high). It ranks worst on access to exercise opportunities (low), job growth (low) and mental health care shortage (high).

9Very low

Quality-of-life score: #14,235 of 15,651 cities and towns
Oklahoma: #179 of 237 in OK
Population: 1,050 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 816.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 4072750

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 70 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.

Safety56#6,895/15,637
Economy3#15,144/15,631
Housing73#3,981/14,977
Health16#13,137/15,609
Healthcare2#15,311/15,650
Environment31#10,712/15,453
Education8#14,389/15,649
Infrastructure13#13,634/15,650
Community16#13,096/15,651
Leisure & amenities17#12,940/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Suicide rate · low0.0 /100k
100/100Oklahoma 19.4 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCotton County value
Firearm deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Oklahoma 17.6 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCotton County value
Pharmacies · high3.7 /10k
99/100Oklahoma 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCotton County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.8×
96/100Oklahoma 3.1×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Oklahoma 6.4 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCotton County value
Public EV charging ports · high14.7 /10k
90/100Oklahoma 3.8 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyCotton County value

Weaknesses

Access to exercise opportunities · low0.3%
0/100Oklahoma 70.7%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCotton County value
Job growth · low-10.4%
0/100Oklahoma 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataCotton County value
Mental health care shortage · high20.0
1/100Oklahoma 15.8United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationCotton County value
Median household income · low$29,243
1/100Oklahoma $66,124United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Distance to an emergency room · high19.5 mi
3/100Oklahoma 5.8 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCotton County value
Mental health providers · low36 /100k
3/100Oklahoma 439 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCotton County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
873 (2015-2019) → 1,050 (2020-2024)
+20%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
26.9% (2015-2019) → 55.6% (2020-2024)
+29 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
0.8× (2015-2019) → 1.8× (2020-2024)
+113%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
63.5% (2015-2019) → 80.9% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateImproving
45.4% (2015-2019) → 30.0% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Income inequality (Gini index)Worsening
0.400 (2015-2019) → 0.582 (2020-2024)
+45%5 yearsCensus table B19083US 0.482 → 0.483

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, Temple, Oklahoma improved on 1 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 7 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+17 points63.5% → 80.9%

Declined2

Inequality+0.1810.400 → 0.582
Price / income+0.9×0.8× → 1.8×

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Temple, Oklahoma between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	30.2 min2015-2019	25.5 min2020-2024	−4.6 min	Within the margin of error	88%
Broadband subscriptions	63.5%2015-2019	80.9%2020-2024	+17 points	Improved	86%
Child poverty rate	45.4%2015-2019	30.0%2020-2024	−15 points	Within the margin of error	90%
High school diploma or higher	80.4%2015-2019	83.7%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Within the margin of error	71%
Home price to income ratio	0.8×2015-2019	1.8×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	25%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4002015-2019	0.5822020-2024	+0.181	Declined	1%
Median household income	$35,8332015-2019	$29,2432020-2024	−18%	Within the margin of error	1%
Poverty rate	26.0%2015-2019	30.8%2020-2024	+4.9 points	Within the margin of error	13%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	24.4%2015-2019	17.5%2020-2024	−6.9 points	Within the margin of error	92%

“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 Temple, Oklahoma five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Temple, 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.

No place that looked like Temple, Oklahoma five years ago has more measures that improved than declined, with a higher standing among its peers today.

For comparison, Temple, Oklahoma itself moved −8.7 points in standing on average over the same 6 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

1,050 residents (±156)

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

408 households (±55)

Temple, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Under $25k34%†140
$25k–50k32%†131
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

408 households (±55)

Temple, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Own78%320
Rent22%†88

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

318 workers (±83)

Temple, Oklahoma
Oklahoma share

Drive alone86%275
Carpool11%†35
Public transit0.0%0

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 Lawton, 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 Cotton County, the county holding most of Temple's residents.

Cotton County has 84 employer establishments, 154 for every 10,000 residents (0.62× the US rate of 248; 0.65× Oklahoma's), with 1,328 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,041. The Census Bureau also counts 335 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 84; 335 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 154; US 248 · Oklahoma 237
Paid employees: 1,328
Average annual pay: $46,041; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	7	12.8	0.70×Too few to compare	30	$15,467	—
Gasoline stations	6	11	3.39×Too few to compare	83	$23,036	—
Full-service restaurants	5	9.2	1.19×Too few to compare	11	$17,000	—
Religious organizations	5	9.2	1.65×Too few to compare	17	$15,294	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	4	7.3	1.67×Too few to compare	14	$31,786	12
Ambulatory health care services	3	5.5	0.26×Too few to compare	27	$51,000	6
Individual and family services	3	5.5	1.96×Too few to compare	4	$42,250	—
Specialty trade contractors	3	5.5	0.36×Too few to compare	26	$43,538	27
Traveler accommodation	3	5.5	3.05×Too few to compare	739	$51,034	—
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	0	0	0.00×Too few to compare	0	—	7
Advertising, public relations and related services	0	0	0.00×Too few to compare	0	—	3
Amusement, gambling and recreation industries	0	0	0.00×Too few to compare	0	—	3

Rank places for an industry Open Cotton County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 5,456 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 Temple, Oklahoma: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
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

101.7FY2017
543.6FY2019
24.6FY2021
0FY2022

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 Temple, Oklahoma, so they do not add up across cities.

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

See federal money in Cotton 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.

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

House

Tom ColeR-OK-4 · 100% of residentsWith party 96%Missed 1.2%

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.

Cotton County12100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Lawton, OK25

Other cities and towns in Cotton 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/4072750

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends