Suburbs see most growth
Western Oklahoma losing population
David Zizzo
People are moving into areas near - but not necessarily in -
Oklahoma's largest cities and away from rural areas in western
parts of the state, census figures released Thursday show.
"People are leaving the hustle and bustle of the big town," said
Jeff Wallace, director of the Oklahoma State Data Center.
Those moving out of large cities aren't going far, though.
Figures on county population changes in the 1990s show people
are going just far enough to buy a spread with room to spread out,
far enough to send children to suburban schools, to park on Main
Street without feeding a meter. But they're staying close enough to
go to work, to shopping centers, restaurants and ball games in the
big towns.
They're going to places like Claremore, northeast of Tulsa. The
Rogers County seat is no Mayberry, but people seem to like it.
Especially lately.
"I've lived here for the last 15 years, and I've never locked my
door," Gloria Wrenn said.
Whatever the reasons, population growth has helped Wrenn sell $3
million in real estate in Rogers County each of the last two years.
And it helped Rogers County become the fastest-growing county in
Oklahoma in the '90s, growing almost 28 percent. Figures show
Rogers County is like several counties around Oklahoma's largest
cities: They're getting bigger much faster than counties that
aren't next to big cities.
The U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday were the
Oklahoma population estimates for 1999, rounding out the
statistical picture for the '90s. The bureau counts people every
decade, but tracks population changes in the intervening years with
annual estimates.
Counties in central and eastern Oklahoma tended to gain
population, while those in western Oklahoma generally lost
residents. Roger Mills lost the highest percentage, more than 13
percent, followed by Dewey, Harmon and Harper counties.
Counties around Tulsa and Oklahoma City were among the
fastest-growing, such as Cleveland County, one of the
fastest-growing of the more densely populated counties. In 1990,
Cleveland County, which includes Norman and Moore, had 174,000
residents. In 1999, more than 203,000 lived there.
"We've got lots of jobs around here," Cleveland County Assessor
Denise Heavner said. School systems are good, there's plenty of
land to plat for development. Enough development happened in
Cleveland County to raise market values by more than $300 million
last year.
During the '90s, Tulsa County had the state's highest population
growth, adding about 45,000 residents, a rise of 8.9 percent.
Oklahoma County was second, adding about 37,000, a 6.1 percent
increase. Nationally, Tulsa County's growth ranked 123rd, Oklahoma
County's 174th.
One reason Tulsa County beat Oklahoma County in all this is that
several suburbs of Tulsa - such as Broken Arrow, Bixby and Jenks -
are inside Tulsa County, Wallace said. Many popular Oklahoma City
suburbs are in adjacent counties, such as Norman, Yukon, Mustang
and Shawnee.
Even without suburbs, however, Oklahoma City is one big place in
terms of land - the third-largest in America. Only Anchorage,
Alaska, at 1,697 square miles, and Jacksonville, Fla., at 758
square miles, are bigger cities. At 608 square miles, Oklahoma City
is larger than fourth-place Houston, which has 540 square miles and
about 1 million more people than Oklahoma City.