Occupational profile · 2025
Oklahoma
Oklahoma employs 1,707,680 people. The work it does most unusually is gambling surveillance officers and gambling investigators, at 12.5× the national concentration — 1,310 jobs paying a median of $36,000.
What Oklahoma is distinctive for
Detailed occupations ranked by location quotient. A location quotient is an occupation’s share of a state’s jobs divided by its share of the nation’s. One means the state looks like the country; two means twice the concentration. It is a measure of distinctiveness, not of quality, size or pay. Bars use a logarithmic scale so the lower ranks stay legible beside the leader.
- 1Gambling Surveillance Officers and Gambling Investigators1,310 jobs · median $36,00012.5×
- 2Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas1,700 jobs · median $55,16012.3×
- 3Gambling Cage Workers1,540 jobs · median $30,5909.7×
- 4Petroleum Engineers1,450 jobs · median $153,0207.3×
- 5Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas2,980 jobs · median $56,6806.3×
- 6Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians8,550 jobs · median $74,3905.6×
- 7Roustabouts, Oil and Gas2,730 jobs · median $47,2605.5×
- 8Gambling Change Persons and Booth Cashiers1,120 jobs · median $28,6604.7×
- 9New Accounts Clerks1,650 jobs · median $43,3804.1×
- 10First-Line Supervisors of Gambling Services Workers1,160 jobs · median $58,9004.1×
- 11Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers1,390 jobs · median $95,1403.8×
- 12Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining1,440 jobs · median $47,1003.8×
What Oklahoma is made of
All twenty-two occupational groups by headcount, with the concentration figure beside each. Most states look broadly alike in this view — that is the finding, not a flaw in it.
| Occupation group | Share of state employment | Jobs | vs national | Median wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 213,000 | 1.09× | $41,980 | |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 167,030 | 1.11× | $27,110 | |
| Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 155,910 | 1.04× | $37,750 | |
| Sales and Related Occupations | 154,170 | 1.05× | $33,300 | |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 113,620 | 1.05× | $78,560 | |
| Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 101,590 | 1.02× | $47,870 | |
| Production Occupations | 100,600 | 1.07× | $45,850 | |
| Management Occupations | 98,840 | 0.81× | $99,990 | |
| Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 96,520 | 0.83× | $75,360 | |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 92,070 | 1.38× | $55,000 | |
| Construction and Extraction Occupations | 85,910 | 1.22× | $48,620 | |
| Healthcare Support Occupations | 65,630 | 0.76× | $35,400 | |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 50,840 | 1.02× | $32,400 | |
| Protective Service Occupations | 42,490 | 1.02× | $46,430 | |
| Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 40,490 | 0.70× | $82,090 | |
| Personal Care and Service Occupations | 31,850 | 0.89× | $29,420 | |
| Community and Social Service Occupations | 29,250 | 1.00× | $46,810 | |
| Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 25,010 | 0.87× | $92,460 | |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 15,840 | 0.71× | $50,720 | |
| Legal Occupations | 12,410 | 0.87× | $78,620 | |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 12,020 | 0.74× | $73,920 | |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 2,600 | 0.54× | $36,220 |
Elsewhere on Oklahoma
Blank cells are estimates BLS did not release, usually because too few employers reported. They are shown as gaps rather than filled. Detailed occupations are included only where at least 1,000 people are employed, below which a quotient is survey noise. A wage marked “$239,200 or more” is censored at source: BLS does not publish medians above that figure, so the number is a floor rather than the wage. A work of the U.S. government: no copyright subsists (17 U.S.C. §105). BLS OEWS ↗