Population Growth for OKC

[Rover]

2018 metropolitan census data was released today!

https://www.census.gov/data/tables/t...cal-areas.html

Oklahoma City metro area grew from 1,383,249 to 1,396,445 adding 13,196 persons. That's way better than the 2016-2017 growth of 9,000 persons.

This bodes well, as it looks like the population growth should be picking back up, after recent years of tepid growth.

Looks like Tulsa area had an out migration of about 1,000 while OKC had in migration of about 6,650

Wow... Tulsa up less than 2,200 and struggling to top 1 million (now at 993,797).

[mugofbeer]

As goes the O & G industry, so goes growth in OK. Tepid for both.

[ChrisHayes]

13,000 isn't bad. I'd like to see at least 20,000 year. I don't understand why Tulsa's growth is so slow. It should appeal to a lot of people.

[jedicurt]

As goes the O & G industry, so goes growth in OK. Tepid for both.

Tepid??? i think 13,000 in a year is quite good

Heck Boston Metro only saw an increase in 30,793, with Boston itself only increasing 13031... so the entire OKC Metro increased more than the city of Boston... i'll take that

i mean with places like Chicago losing population... what would be your idea of good growth?? yes Tulsa would fall under tepid... but really curious what your expectations for positive growth in OKC is

[Rover]

13,000 isn't bad. I'd like to see at least 20,000 year. I don't understand why Tulsa's growth is so slow. It should appeal to a lot of people.

Tulsa had a large domestic out migration. OKC had a healthy domestic in migration. I think we are seeing the results of OKC's diversification of industries vs. its impact on Tulsa. Oil & gas dragged us both down, but OKC was apparently more resilient. Plus, OKC is more nationally visible now and I would think more attractive to those wanting to move.

This is from Best Places website. If true, could be why OKC is more attractive now.:

2019 Compare Cities Economy:

Tulsa, OK vs Oklahoma City, OK

Highlights
- Household income in Oklahoma City ($64,273), is 16% more than it is in Tulsa ($55,894) and is 12% below the National Average.
- Tulsa unemployment rate is 3.70%.
- Oklahoma City unemployment rate is 3.40%.

[mugofbeer]

Tepid??? i think 13,000 in a year is quite good

Heck Boston Metro only saw an increase in 30,793, with Boston itself only increasing 13031... so the entire OKC Metro increased more than the city of Boston... i'll take that

i mean with places like Chicago losing population... what would be your idea of good growth?? yes Tulsa would fall under tepid... but really curious what your expectations for positive growth in OKC is

OK, you're right. I just compare that number with the metro area population and it seems the growth number could be just net births/deaths. However, looking at boom cities around the country, though we are behind them, the gap isn't all that huge considering OKC isn't considered a boom city right now - adjusted for population differences.

[GoGators]

OKC was netting right around 20k a year from 2010 until the 16-17 dip to 9k.

I'd like to see growth around the 20k mark again but happy to see it moving back in the right direction.

[ChrisHayes]

Oklahoma and the city need a big marketing campaign and videos like this would help out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgrrU39SlCo

[jedicurt]

OKC was netting right around 20k a year from 2010 until the 16-17 dip to 9k.

I'd like to see growth around the 20k mark again but happy to see it moving back in the right direction.

i'm going to keep this as fact based and non political as possible. but with new Executive Orders that significantly added to the red tap requirements for both Student Visas and Work Visas, the country as a whole is seeing slightly slower growth due to the decrease in number of legal immigrants coming to the US since middle of 2017.

so i'm very happy with 13k, and will be very happy if we are able to push that up to 15-17k for 2019, and hopefully be a full 30k higher than we are now for 2020 census

[Rover]

i'm going to keep this as fact based and non political as possible. but with new Executive Orders that significantly added to the red tap requirements for both Student Visas and Work Visas, the country as a whole is seeing slightly slower growth due to the decrease in number of legal immigrants coming to the US since middle of 2017.

Don't know where you get your "facts", but the growth rate in the US has been on a significant and steady decline since 1992.

[Laramie]

Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area 2018-2017:

1,396,445 - 1,383,242 increase +13,196

At this rate of increase over the previous 3 years, Oklahoma City MSA should exceed 1,440,000 when the 2020 report comes out in 2021.

How OKC compares to our NBA small market peers:

Memphis 1,350,620 - 1,347,596 increase +3.044
Milwaukee 1,576,113 - 1,575,151 increase +962
New Orleans 1,270,399 - 1,270,465 decrease -66
Oklahoma City 1,396,445 - 1,383,242 increase +13,196
Salt Lake City 1,222,340 - 1,205,238 increase +17,305

We are the core of our state's population increase.

[Jake]

Decent growth.

Being from Tulsa, it hurts to see their population growth stagnate so much. Hope the new mayor and maybe some new policies can kickstart some growth soon. I assume they're trying, but diversifying from O&G would help a lot in that regard.

[jedicurt]

Don't know where you get your "facts", but the growth rate in the US has been on a significant and steady decline since 1992.

i didn't say it was all immigration... but those "facts" come from the US State department when they were talking just a month or so ago about how new student visa approvals are at a 20 year low, and worker visa approvals have also seen a significant decline... i more was going to the part of 20k was kind of the year to year norm, so 13k, is still really good

[Rover]

i didn't say it was all immigration... but those "facts" come from the US State department when they were talking just a month or so ago about how new student visa approvals are at a 20 year low, and worker visa approvals have also seen a significant decline... i more was going to the part of 20k was kind of the year to year norm, so 13k, is still really good

You said it was due to legal immigration slowdown, but this chart shows that it is an overall trend and a lengthy one and seemingly not influenced that much by legal immigration.

Certainly is understandable that legal immigration is down though, given our new hatred of immigrants.

Oklahoma City doesn’t rely much on immigration but does need migration from domestic locations. We did okay there but really need to do better to grow this economy and become more nationally financially competitive.

[fromdust]

Certainly is understandable that legal immigration is down though, given our new hatred of immigrants.

New hatred of immigration! Hahaha holy sh!@

[OKC Guy]

New hatred of immigration! Hahaha holy sh!@

I saw that too. Comments like that are why we cannot have an honest discussion about the crisis at our border

[BG918]

Decent growth.

Being from Tulsa, it hurts to see their population growth stagnate so much. Hope the new mayor and maybe some new policies can kickstart some growth soon. I assume they're trying, but diversifying from O&G would help a lot in that regard.

Tulsa is definitely more reliant on O&G and doesn’t have as diversified an economy as OKC. Luckily that is (slowly) changing and I would expect to start seeing growth pick up there. Lots of really positive developments currently in the works that should pay off in the next decade.

[Rover]

I saw that too. Comments like that are why we cannot have an honest discussion about the crisis at our border

Guess you haven’t been watching Fox/TrumpTV in a couple of years or been on Twitter.

Would love to see this country and current leadership have an HONEST discussion. Isn’t happening.

[jedicurt]

so... taking this back to not being political.... 13k is really pretty good growth

[BG918]

More evidence the rural areas across the country continue to lose population to the cities, and in many cases just a handful of cities concentrated in the south and west. Interesting to see how the recent oil downturn has affected previously booming counties in North Dakota, Wyoming, and NW Oklahoma yet the counties in the Permian Basin are still booming. And then there's Puerto Rico..

[ChrisHayes]

This is an important map for people to take into consideration. You see a lot of talk about how the rural counties of Oklahoma are losing population. This just goes to show it's not an Oklahoma thing. That being said, I'd like to see Lawton and Enid come up with grand plans to get them growing. Lawton shouldn't be too hard considering it's along I-44 and has the military base there. Enid, would be a bit more difficult because of it's location.

[Rover]

Also goes to show how strengthening the I35 corridor should be a priority for symbiotic growth. We can be the top point of a huge economic triangle area from San Antonio/Austin, Houston and OKC, with Dallas as the heart. Need high speed rail and improved I-35.

[BG918]

Also goes to show how strengthening the I35 corridor should be a priority for symbiotic growth. We can be the top point of a huge economic triangle area from San Antonio/Austin, Houston and OKC, with Dallas as the heart. Need high speed rail and improved I-35.

Agree, most maps showing the “Texas Triangle” show OKC and Tulsa as the northern extents:


Conversely there is a “Mid-South” growth region that has emerged with booming Nashville at the center and the equally booming Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham metros anchoring it at the east end. Then you have economic laggards Memphis and Little Rock but also the booming Northwest Arkansas Metro anchoring the west. No reason OKC/Tulsa couldn’t be similar western anchors for this sub-region that roughly parallels I-40.

[HOT ROD]

that map is interesting in that it shows growth in the middle and large metros but declines in the rural AND largest mega metros. Note that LA county, Cook county, and the NY city counties all appear to be declining as are declines or tepid growth of their surrounding metro counties.

It appears my state (Washington) and Delaware are the hottest for growth in that we nave no counties in orange. Interesting about Multnomah County (Portland OR) being orange. ....

[HOT ROD]

Agree, most maps showing the “Texas Triangle” show OKC and Tulsa as the northern extents:


Conversely there is a “Mid-South” growth region that has emerged with booming Nashville at the center and the equally booming Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham metros anchoring it at the east end. Then you have economic laggards Memphis and Little Rock but also the booming Northwest Arkansas Metro anchoring the west. No reason OKC/Tulsa couldn’t be similar western anchors for this sub-region that roughly parallels I-40.

I doubt this for the simple fact that the industries are not similar among the I-40 communities unlike how the industries ARE for the lower I-35 communities.

O/G, Diversified Energy, Federal Government, Military/Defense, Aerospace, and Health Care/Research are common industries leading/linking OKC with Dallas, Houston, SA and to a lesser extent Austin (where IT and public research is higher) and Tulsa (more manufacturing based). Hence the reason why there's also a significant amount of air traffic in the I-35 corridor, (notice amount/frequency of the private planes) between Dallas, Houston, OKC, SA in particular and why it might make sense for HSR between OKC and Houston as well. ....