I wish too that the Census Bureau would eliminate an entire adjacent county's population when figuring CMSA's

This can basically be explained by lack of room for traditional new housing. Oklahoma City has room to sprawl within its city limits; Tulsa does not.That's not totally true. US 75 North of downtown all the way to the county line is all inside Tulsa City Limits and there are only a handful of housing developments going up along that corridor. Seems to be plenty of land and good freeway access (plus SH 11) along this relatively narrow, yet expansive stretch of North Tulsa. In fact, you're practically out in the country literally 5-6 minutes north of downtown. I know there is little to no retail north of I-244 (except Owasso), but retail will follow if there are enough rooftops to serve.

The problem I see with the way Tulsa's growth has evolved, they've painted themselves into a corner...literally. I'm referring to the SE portion of the city near the US 169/71st Street area. Southeast appears to be the only direction sprawl seems to occur in Tulsa! Unfortunately for Tulsa, the city limits end with the beginning of BA and Bixby. Same due south with Jenks and Glenpool. So, these suburbs get most of the credit for population growth because the available land for new housing is in their city limits. Available land for new housing development inside the SE portion of Tulsa city limits is pretty limited.