Population Growth for OKC

[bchris02]

I would imagine probably more developments that are proposed/planned actually end up falling through than getting built. A lot of developers dream big and want to do very exciting things but when it comes to getting financing for it it doesn't quite work out. It either has to be scaled way back or it ends up not happening at all.

[SOONER8693]

Or... not all proposed/planned developments come to fruition. Steve is a great source of information and to knock him when a development falters that we wouldn't of even known about otherwise seems shortsighted.

Steve and Pete are two of the biggest reasons I have continued to follow OKC's development since moving out of the city 3 years ago. They both make it so easy to follow new developments/projects. I haven't been able to find 1/10th of such information in either of the two cities I have lived in since. It's never wise to bite the hand that feeds you...

Oh, I agree 100%. I'm sure a small percentage of what is talked about or proposed, ever happen. I find Pete to be an incredible source for OKC info. Steve, not so much anymore.

[Dubya61]

I've noticed that just where I live there are three separate Iowans.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5

Are they registered?

[dankrutka]

Steve, not so much anymore.

I'm not sure what to say to this. Did you read his recent blog post on the Lumber Yard site? How many reporters dig that deep and share everything they know. Steve is a great source of OKC information. I'm not sure how that could be up for debate.

[Plutonic Panda]

Oh, I agree 100%. I'm sure a small percentage of what is talked about or proposed, ever happen. I find Pete to be an incredible source for OKC info. Steve, not so much anymore.

I really appreciate what Steve does and he is a great asset to OKC which a bunch of other cities lack. I look over news in Dallas all the time and have yet to see any reporter in a city of 7 million people devoted as Steve Lackmeyer here in OKC. While I have disagreed with him in the past, I really respect him and what he does.

Pete is great as well. We are so lucky to have people like Pete and Steve caring so much about OKC. I also appreciate ton of other posters such as Spartan and JTF who don't even live here, but still care about their city and participate in this forum devoting their time to make this city better. There are so many people on this site that provide very valuable information about progress and do things like Urban Pioneer starting the FBB putting in valuable time for others. When I go around and tell people things like what's about to be built, I've had some people ask me how I know information like this and if I have insider sources and I say "nope, it all comes from OKCTalk".

Steve and Pete play two different roles but both obviously care about the city or they wouldn't be doing what they do.

[adaniel]

The states housing market is another story. It seems OKC is doing the best in the state.

Neighboring states outpace Oklahoma home price appreciation | News OK

Meant to respond to this earlier. I wouldn't read too much into this as OK never fell like most markets so it doesn't have much to climb. And OK in general has always been not too hot not too cold, although a real estate professional can probably explain more on that than I can.

[coov23]

Meant to respond to this earlier. I wouldn't read too much into this as OK never fell like most markets so it doesn't have much to climb. And OK in general has always been not too hot not too cold, although a real estate professional can probably explain more on that than I can.

My mother is a vice-president of a mortgage company that us fairly prominent on the north side of the city. She says housing prices never really dropped off during the recession. Stayed pretty level, with possibly a minor drop. Housing costs have been climbing at a steady, not alarming, rate. The fact that our housing prices are on oar with the nation, where the recession was bad, says just how strong our market is here. She is crazy busy and. Has been for several years. She'd consider this a housing boom, but she is just one company. It's healthy and booming, on most accounts.

[ChrisHayes]

I came from Canton, Ohio to live in OKC last September. The better economy, shorter and less severe winters, and being able to pursue my passion of storm chasing are all reasons for my move. Not to mention, I want to live in a city that has a bright and prosperous future to it. Oklahoma City is that. I'm hoping that we can get some more big projects confirmed in the coming years. But at the same time, I just like not seeing what I saw in Canton, Ohio; a dead downtown, burnt out and abandoned buildings, a list a thousands of abandoned houses that needed to be tore down, and people getting excited about the next gas station or drug store.

[Bellaboo]

I came from Canton, Ohio to live in OKC last September. The better economy, shorter and less severe winters, and being able to pursue my passion of storm chasing are all reasons for my move. Not to mention, I want to live in a city that has a bright and prosperous future to it. Oklahoma City is that. I'm hoping that we can get some more big projects confirmed in the coming years. But at the same time, I just like not seeing what I saw in Canton, Ohio; a dead downtown, burnt out and abandoned buildings, a list a thousands of abandoned houses that needed to be tore down, and people getting excited about the next gas station or drug store.

Welcome Chris !

[OKCisOK4me]

Are they registered?

Lol, I didn't interview them ;-)

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5

[G.Walker]

I really appreciate what Steve does and he is a great asset to OKC which a bunch of other cities lack. I look over news in Dallas all the time and have yet to see any reporter in a city of 7 million people devoted as Steve Lackmeyer here in OKC. While I have disagreed with him in the past, I really respect him and what he does.

Pete is great as well. We are so lucky to have people like Pete and Steve caring so much about OKC. I also appreciate ton of other posters such as Spartan and JTF who don't even live here, but still care about their city and participate in this forum devoting their time to make this city better. There are so many people on this site that provide very valuable information about progress and do things like Urban Pioneer starting the FBB putting in valuable time for others. When I go around and tell people things like what's about to be built, I've had some people ask me how I know information like this and if I have insider sources and I say "nope, it all comes from OKCTalk".

Steve and Pete play two different roles but both obviously care about the city or they wouldn't be doing what they do.

I disagree, Steve Brown a reporter from Dallas is the best in the game and been reporting on downtown development in Dallas for almost 35 years.

Steve Brown | Dallas Morning News

[Spartan]

I came from Canton, Ohio to live in OKC last September. The better economy, shorter and less severe winters, and being able to pursue my passion of storm chasing are all reasons for my move. Not to mention, I want to live in a city that has a bright and prosperous future to it. Oklahoma City is that. I'm hoping that we can get some more big projects confirmed in the coming years. But at the same time, I just like not seeing what I saw in Canton, Ohio; a dead downtown, burnt out and abandoned buildings, a list a thousands of abandoned houses that needed to be tore down, and people getting excited about the next gas station or drug store.

Yeah, Canton is rough. Really rough. That downtown is incredible though, even considering that Canton was much larger in its heyday. And welcome to OKC, now I can finally count a Buckeye that has taken my place in OKC.

[Midtowner]

I came from Canton, Ohio to live in OKC last September. The better economy, shorter and less severe winters, and being able to pursue my passion of storm chasing are all reasons for my move. Not to mention, I want to live in a city that has a bright and prosperous future to it. Oklahoma City is that. I'm hoping that we can get some more big projects confirmed in the coming years. But at the same time, I just like not seeing what I saw in Canton, Ohio; a dead downtown, burnt out and abandoned buildings, a list a thousands of abandoned houses that needed to be tore down, and people getting excited about the next gas station or drug store.

Hey, the brewing war between the super 7-11s and Oncue on NW Expressway is something to get excited about!

[ChrisHayes]

Yeah, Canton is rough. Really rough. That downtown is incredible though, even considering that Canton was much larger in its heyday. And welcome to OKC, now I can finally count a Buckeye that has taken my place in OKC.

I found a video of Downton Canton from the 1980s on Youtube and it amazes me how practically NOTHING has changed since then. It's still a dead downtown area. Especially compared to what it used to be in the 50s. Canton's population peaked at 116,000 in the 1950 census. Since then it's been on the down turn. It's so depressing to see a city decay. Part of why I love OKC; so much development going on.

[G.Walker]

New 2014 county & metro area population estimates will be released tomorrow by the US Census Bureau, anxious to see the OKC metro growth rate from 2013-2014.

[adaniel]

New population figures are out. As of this writing, only counties are out, so I had to do a little spreadsheet action and add them up manually. Apologies in advance if I turn out to be a bit off since I'm writing this at 2 am lol.

OKC
2014 Population: 1,336,767, +17,090 since last year (or about +1.3% yoy, +6.7% since 2010)
Total new migrants: +8,352 (+2,718 International Migrants, +5,634 Domestic Migrants)
CSA Population (OKC+Shawnee): 1,408,578

This area has added roughly 83,700 so far this decade, compared to approximately 50,000 between 2000-04. FWIW the 1.3% figure is a little under the average growth of 1.5ish% this area has experienced over the past decade, so interpret it as you wish.

One thing that struck me was while most counties grew at the same 5 year average, Cleveland County basically stalled, adding only 18 people net, thanks to a net outmigration of 1,783 people. Obviously, the impact of the Moore tornado was captured here. I know that census looks at housing units added (or subtracted) from an area when doing these estimates. But given how many people were displaced and living with family, in hotels, shelters, etc., this may be an overly aggressive level of outmigration that would not be shown during the official count in 2020.

The rest of the state is definitely more of a mixed bag.

Tulsa:
2014 Population: 969,224, +7,663 since last year (or about +0.8% yoy)
Total new migrants: +3,042 (+1,182 International Migrants, +1,860 Domestic Migrants)
CSA Population (Tulsa+Muskogee+Bartlesville+Tahlequah): 1,131,805

Lawton:
2014 Population: 123,033 (-2 since last year). Poor Lawton, with numbers like this, they don't get a breakdown LOL.

This last estimate definitely picked up on the beginning of energy slowdown. In looking at the counties out west that were going gangbusters due to oil drilling, you definitely see a slowdown. Custer County only grew 0.7% in 2014, compared to 2.9% in 2013. Similar story for several of the big oil counties in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale area in Texas.

A disturbing amount of counties in the eastern half of the state are losing population and have been for several years. An unfortunate number have now more deaths than births.

Here is my source if anyone is interested. Official metro numbers should be out today or tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how we stack up with other MSA's.

[Bellaboo]

Canadian County was/is the fastest growing county in the state, percentage wise.

[TU 'cane]

For some reason, I strongly believe this will be a strong year for growth in OKC proper, despite the downturn in the energy industry.
Tulsa keeps lagging behind, although growing... Just not at a very fast (or respectable) pace.

People have speculated for the past 10 years when Tulsa's MSA will finally break 1 million and it seems it's just crawling along.
In the meantime, I can't wait for OKC to hit 1.5 million MSA. That would firmly put it in it's own place within it's tier. It's already outpaced Memphis and Louisville over the last 10 years, if I'm not mistaken. (and I mean YOY on average MSA overall)

[Spartan]

OKC including Shawnee is not unreasonable, but Tulsa including Bartlesville, Muskogee, and Tahlequah is absurd. It would less absurd if the OKC CMSA were to include Chickasha, Stillwater, and Pauls Valley.

[traxx]

I wish that every time the energy industry slowed or dipped that it wouldn't throw everything into question in OKC and Oklahoma.

[Pete]

Thanks for posting this.

If the 1,336,767 number is the same one they end up publishing for the OKC MSA, that means our growth rate slowed down between 7/1/13 and 7/1/14.

Through the first 3.5 years of the decade, we had been on a pace to grow at 15.2% from 2010-20 and now that number would be 14.8% and likely to slow more for at least the next two years or so.

We grew at 14.3% from 2000 to 2010; looks like for 2010-20 that may drop a bit.

For 1990 to 2000, the growth rate was 12.8%

[G.Walker]

Official data is out: American FactFinder - Results

The 1,336,767 is the correct count for the OKC metro area, good job adaniel!

We are coming very close to passing Memphis, with their metro population at 1,343,230...

[Teo9969]

I'd be interested to see OKC's growth in relation to the National Economy…This could be totally errant, but it seems like we see our largest spikes when the national economy is down.

[bchris02]

The growth rate from 1990 to 2000 wasn't all that bad especially considering how dark those years were for this area. I wonder how much the slowdown in the 2014 number can be blamed on the 2013 tornadoes. I remember somebody posting a long time ago that they believed the city's growth rate would take a hit because of that. Some of that may be reflected in these latest numbers. Since oil didn't plunge below $70 until the closing months of 2014 I don't think the oil slowdown will be reflected until the 2015 numbers. I think OKC's growth rate was also boosted during the early years of this decade because of how poorly the economy was in most of the rest of the country. People who previously would have never considered living in Oklahoma City were coming here to escape the recession. Now that the national economy is in real recovery my guess is some of that is coming to an end.

I think the city's growth rate will continue to slow as long as oil is down and I also believe the negative press this area has received almost daily so far in 2015 will have at least some impact. Hopefully the oil prices return to a level where it can propel growth because its a fact of life that energy is the primary driver of growth here.

[Pete]

I'd be interested to see OKC's growth in relation to the National Economy…This could be totally errant, but it seems like we see our largest spikes when the national economy is down.

The economy in Oklahoma and Texas are usually counter-cyclical to the broader national economy.

When energy prices are high, OK benefits and the nation suffers; and vice versa.