Oklahoma City, In the Press

[dcsooner]

Well, pissing and moaning on a board that largely agrees with you does no good.

Agree, but I no longer live in the State to attend school board meetings or more importantly VOTE for leadership or even speak my mind to congressional reps. I do those things where I live. Can't a person love where they come from and want it to be better?

[dankrutka]

Can't a person love where they come from and want it to be better?

If your goal is to make Oklahoma better with your posts then I would say you need to reassess your strategy.

[mugofbeer]

+1. There is rarely an entry from dcsooner that isn't negative. It goes beyond simply presenting another viewpoint, it's representative of several on here whose comments usually consist of -
link to negative info about the state or the city
supporting negative comment from the poster
closing statement inluding "typical Oklahoma" such and such presented in a negative tone

I have lived in OK only a couple of months out of tbe last 25 years before I had to retun to being out of state. We are all aware of:
poor state government
poor teacher pay
health care problems (same as 49 other states)
employment concentrated in oil and gas
lots of imagined negatives that pretty much exist in many/most other states

You all should thank God OK has oil and gas and how to maximize it. How can you encourage other types of businesses to come to OK? How can you all work to counter the half-wits who seem to control the capitol? I think OKs greatest loss of the last 50 years was Aubrey McClendon. The man may not have been totally kosher but he was like Robin Hood..... he gave money to start up multiple outside businesses, he gave money for the arena, he gave for the boathouse and river improvements, and much more. Like him or not, he had vision and he thought outside the box. The city needs more like him who promote and build.

Instead of rehashing the same bitch and moan, try thinking about the problem and work on how to fix it.

[Bellaboo]

Agree, but I no longer live in the State to attend school board meetings or more importantly VOTE for leadership or even speak my mind to congressional reps. I do those things where I live. Can't a person love where they come from and want it to be better?

Yes.

[bchris02]

nm

[BG918]

You all should thank God OK has oil and gas and how to maximize it. How can you encourage other types of businesses to come to OK? How can you all work to counter the half-wits who seem to control the capitol? I think OKs greatest loss of the last 50 years was Aubrey McClendon. The man may not have been totally kosher but he was like Robin Hood..... he gave money to start up multiple outside businesses, he gave money for the arena, he gave for the boathouse and river improvements, and much more. Like him or not, he had vision and he thought outside the box. The city needs more like him who promote and build.

And George Kaiser in Tulsa

[Laramie]

State largest papers report layoffs among the state's largest employers including government.

Our state's economic downturn has certainly contributed to the possibility that OKC may have peaked in population. You may see a slight increase over the last 10 years come 2020. Just feel as though we haven't made population gains; however don't think that we've lost population either.

[Urbanized]

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates a 10% increase in population within the city limits of OKC since 2010. There is quite a bit of silly speculation in this thread. The city and metro are growing, and will continue to do so. Is there a boom in population? No, but that is not always good on every level anyway. Ask Austin. Or Portland.

[Jake]

The traffic doesn't really hint at OKC losing population.

[HOT ROD]

^ neither does the development that has been added/supported.

Think about how awesome OKC has gotten/is getting compared to when the population really WAS smaller/economy less diverse. .... remember the very true line of "Tulsa gets the retail first in the state?" ... no longer the case now.

[pw405]

43. Oklahoma
> Pct. of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree: 24.6%
> Pct. of adults with at least a high school diploma: 87.3%
> 2015 median household income: $48,568 (12th lowest)
> Median earnings for bachelor degree holders: $42,195 (7th lowest)

Goes to show how rigorous these city rankings lists are. The CNBC link that ranks OKC as #1 states the average household income to be $70k+.

[ABCOKC]

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates a 10% increase in population within the city limits of OKC since 2010. There is quite a bit of silly speculation in this thread. The city and metro are growing, and will continue to do so. Is there a boom in population? No, but that is not always good on every level anyway. Ask Austin. Or Portland.

Thank you. The idea that we are somehow losing population is ludicrous.

The thought process appears to be “I hate Oklahoma, so others must hate Oklahoma, so people must be leaving Oklahoma.” Meanwhile the stats have the state and city showing pretty average population growth compared to the rest of the country and other major cities respectively.

[stile99]

Goes to show how rigorous these city rankings lists are. The CNBC link that ranks OKC as #1 states the average household income to be $70k+.

Actually it goes to show how cherry-picking the data can show anything you want it to show. The wikipedia entry for OKC has two different numbers for median income, depending on if you look at it as a household or as a family. It also says these numbers are now eight years old.

FWIW, it also says "Oklahoma City has experienced significant population increases since the late 1990s. Since the official Census in 2000, Oklahoma City has grown 25 percent (a 125,214 raw increase) according to the Bureau estimates. The 2016 estimate of 638,367 is the largest population Oklahoma City has ever recorded. It is the first city in the state to record a population greater than 600,000 residents. It is also the first city in the Great Plains region to record a population greater than 600,000 residents. It is the largest municipal population of the Great Plains region (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota).", so there's something to chew on if you're one of the 'losing population' people.

Back to the point, I'm not sure where CNBC got their numbers but I can't verify them. With the caveat that any idiot can edit wikipedia, looking at another page there doesn't show anywhere in the entire state at 70K+, when viewed by county, and shows only two locations in the state at 70K+ when looking per capita. While both are in the metro area, trying to hold up Nichols Hills as representative of OKC in general is laughable at best, complete and total horsecrap at worst. And as for Lake Aluma, pure unadulterated horsecrap any way you look at it. There are more people living on my STREET, let alone subdivision.

tl;dr: Like I said, you can spin the numbers to say anything.

[pw405]

Actually it goes to show how cherry-picking the data can show anything you want it to show. The wikipedia entry for OKC has two different numbers for median income, depending on if you look at it as a household or as a family. It also says these numbers are now eight years old.

FWIW, it also says "Oklahoma City has experienced significant population increases since the late 1990s. Since the official Census in 2000, Oklahoma City has grown 25 percent (a 125,214 raw increase) according to the Bureau estimates. The 2016 estimate of 638,367 is the largest population Oklahoma City has ever recorded. It is the first city in the state to record a population greater than 600,000 residents. It is also the first city in the Great Plains region to record a population greater than 600,000 residents. It is the largest municipal population of the Great Plains region (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota).", so there's something to chew on if you're one of the 'losing population' people.

Back to the point, I'm not sure where CNBC got their numbers but I can't verify them. With the caveat that any idiot can edit wikipedia, looking at another page there doesn't show anywhere in the entire state at 70K+, when viewed by county, and shows only two locations in the state at 70K+ when looking per capita. While both are in the metro area, trying to hold up Nichols Hills as representative of OKC in general is laughable at best, complete and total horsecrap at worst. And as for Lake Aluma, pure unadulterated horsecrap any way you look at it. There are more people living on my STREET, let alone subdivision.

tl;dr: Like I said, you can spin the numbers to say anything.

That's what I'm confused about.. the median numbers in the CNBC article are household incomes. With 2 people earning $36k/year in a household, you've got the cited $72k. Doesn't seem too far fetched, which makes me wonder why other OKC household incomes figures are much lower.

[DenverPoke]

Goes to show how rigorous these city rankings lists are. The CNBC link that ranks OKC as #1 states the average household income to be $70k+.

One is median, the other is average.

[stjohn]

I can't imagine either would accurately be $70k+.

[DenverPoke]

I can't imagine either would accurately be $70k+.

According to this the average household income is over $70k. But I can't speak to the accuracy.

https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neigh...ographics.html

[KayneMo]

According to the 2016 Census estimates, OKC's average household income is $72,385 (which is what's listed in the CNBC article) and average family income is $86,725, while the median household income is $52,915 and the median family income is $65,791.

[bchris02]

Thank you. The idea that we are somehow losing population is ludicrous.

The thought process appears to be “I hate Oklahoma, so others must hate Oklahoma, so people must be leaving Oklahoma.” Meanwhile the stats have the state and city showing pretty average population growth compared to the rest of the country and other major cities respectively.

I don't think OKC is losing population but the state might be. The annual growth statewide was abysmal last year. I think OKC is probably growing moderately, Tulsa is stagnant, and rural Oklahoma is losing population.

[Bunty]

I don't think OKC is losing population but the state might be. The annual growth statewide was abysmal last year. I think OKC is probably growing moderately, Tulsa is stagnant, and rural Oklahoma is losing population.

Estimates indicate the slowdown in population growth will continue and in 2020 Oklahoma will have 3,959,835.
http://worldpopulationreview.com/sta...ma-population/

Much of rural Oklahoma losing population is an old story.

[ChrisHayes]

Every state has a rural population that's decreasing. It's not just an Oklahoma thing

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^
Exactly.

[Bunty]

A report from the U. S. Dept. of Labor showed 'Oklahoma's total civilian labor force gained in size from Dec. 2016 to Dec. 2017 by around 25,000. Of the figures from 4 cities listed, Enid, Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, all also grew a bigger labor force. So don't think you can find a sign of a population loss in Oklahoma there. Hopefully, the latest report, which should come out in a few days will continue upward.

Oklahoma could be doing less than good. Some states had a drop in the labor force, such as Alabama, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

[ChrisHayes]

It's weird that Nebraska would see a drop in the labor force with how Lincoln and Omaha are growing. There are three states to watch for declines in population and labor force, New York, California, and Illinois. All three of those states are starting to see signs of more outflow than inflow population. California especially. People from California have been moving to Arizona, Idaho, and Texas.

[gopokes88]

It's weird that Nebraska would see a drop in the labor force with how Lincoln and Omaha are growing. There are three states to watch for declines in population and labor force, New York, California, and Illinois. All three of those states are starting to see signs of more outflow than inflow population. California especially. People from California have been moving to Arizona, Idaho, and Texas.

Nearly every state in the country will start to see a drop in the labor force and for a long time. The massive generation of baby boomers are retiring, and birth and immigration rates are low. Many parts of Europe are going this most acutely Germany.