The Census recently put out its 2009 state population estimates, and Oklahoma did alright in terms of population growth. I was kind of waiting on the local news outlets to pick up on this, but since none of them did (or I haven't seen it), I thought I'd write it up.

Basically, 2008-2009 saw Oklahoma add 43,025 new faces, for a new population of 3.687 million people. This was a growth rate of 1.18%, which was just .01% short of putting us in the Top 10 fastest growing states.

Close to half of this increase was due to domestic migration, which is really good for Oklahoma- 5 out of 6 of the years from 2000-2005, we had negative domestic migration- but in the last four years, we have gained an average of 14,000 per year from other states.

I have made some simple to read tables showing Oklahoma's growth from 2000-2009, changes in domestic migration, and the Top 12 fastest-growing states here: RezoneOKC Blog Archive Oklahoma 11th Fastest Growing State

If you are like me and like enormous spreadsheets of fairly raw demographic data, check here for the Census CSV files, which will work in Excel:

Components of population change:
http://www.census.gov/popest/nationa...09_ALLDATA.csv

Population growth rates:
http://www.census.gov/popest/states/...g2000-2009.csv

Cool. That should hopefully mean that Oklahoma won't have to lose another congressman after the 2010 census.

It would be nice to regain the congressman we lost in 2000, but then again, perhaps it's for the best that Oklahoma contribute as little as possible to national politics LOL.

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

Wow! I though you of all people might be happy to see OK lose a seat since OK's generally don't support your politics. (smile)

Since you used LOL, I'm going to throw out a dinosaur: ROFLOL

I believe Oklahoma can turn the corner with significant in-migration this next decade. With the improvements in Q of L areas started by initiatives like project 180, Maps 3, Devon bldg, Sandridge etc. etc and steady job growth Oklahoma is poised for a modern day land run of new residents

Personally I'm pretty concerned about MAPS 3 and SandRidge at this point..yes the development is good, but those projects are desperately in need of some divine urban intervention. Quality of urbanism is quality of life..I'd rather have a downtown that works than one that we just continue to lay waste to with these huge superblocks that don't really even interact with each other.

If that's the yellow brick road to the economic promised land then I'd rather not sell out like that. I'll just settle down in Pittsburgh or Cleveland after college. It makes no difference to me how many people are moving to a region or whatever. I'm more interested in a place with a strong community and a city that feels alive, one that I would be excited to be in the midst of.

I'm so much more excited about the possibility of OKC becoming a real city than I am about all of the people who may begin to move here. Downtown doesn't need OKC to be the next Phoenix in order to take off..we have enough pent up demand, and that will build on itself. If you look at areas like Cleveland County and pretty much anywhere outside the Kilpatrick Turnpike, there are an amazing number of new neighborhoods going up right now. The sprawl is just incredible. That tells me that housing and development is in high demand with the level of growth we've sustained over the last 5 years. If MAPS 3 adds to that and brings more of it into the inner city, that would be awesome.

But don't count on growth meaning anything for downtown until the day we see OKC adopt building moratoriums. And at the rate we're going, that won't happen anytime soon. Crazy prediction, are you all ready? -- OKC will be almost built-out in 20 years, with the exception of areas that are in environmental protection, such as virtually everything east of Sooner Rd. By that time it won't mean anything to have a tract housing moratorium and such a policy would be counter productive because Edmond and Moore and Yukon would just take over. At this point OKC still controls the majority of sprawl in the metro.

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

I think it would be great if you could settle down in Pittsburg or Cleveland. I get the feeling that you will never be happy with OKC regardless of what happens.

Yeah, it is sprawling like crazy to the west and north of OKC. I am also worried about the Sandridge destruction of downtown and the placement of the convention center.

Well I would love to have ties to Pittsburgh or Cleveland as well, but I don't. I have ties to OKC, and I'm the kind of guy that tends to stay true to ties. I think OKC, including people like you, needs to be less ass-backwards and embrace the people who are attempting to build this place into something great..

How about that reply?

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

Spartan, I think the ass-backwards statement was answered by the vote in MAPS1, MAPS4Kids, the Ford Renovations vote, the 2007 bond issue and MAPS3. This city IS building itself into something great and doing it our own way. No other city in the country has done what OKC has done on the vote of the people.

No, I absolutely agree mug! OKC is showing some incredible promise. My "ass-backwards" comment was a direct response to the "why don't you go to Pittsburgh" comment, that's why I labeled the post as a "reply" and not a "statement" sort of thing..

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

We're trying, Spartan. We'll get there, I think. We're never going to get back the wonderful old buildings we tore down, and we're always going to have a more raw, new look than the great old cities in the US. But, hopefully, with MAPS 3 and Core to Shore, we can show the rest of the country what can be done with blighted land, a vision, and a willingness to tax ourselves to make it happen.

Spartan,

Continue doing what you do, you bring good insight to this forum and don't lose your ties.

Stay true to Okc.

The true heroes are the guys who stand in the way of progress for progress' sake, guys like Anthony McDermid who tried to fight against the Chamber site, and for The Hill site, and for the Braniff Building. OKC patriots who are willing to step out of line and take heat for standing the way of progress are what OKC needs more of. Another great example is Randy Floyd, and even though I disagree with her assessment of preserving SoSA, the important thing is that she made a stand. More people need to make a stand and be willing to be a fly in the ointment if we're going to "shape up."

This growth is great. It's excellent that OKC is beginning to take off. The reality though is that all of that growth will be manifested in sprawl. Urban development of downtown and infill will happen regardless of population growth because we have already set it in motion. Downtown doesn't need to be a district for suburbanites by suburbanites and of suburbanites. Downtown needs to make sure that new development is great for downtown, and not just for keeping the city growing in general.

Take the new convention center for example. There will be an amazing metro-wide economic benefit to that, but we also run the risk of downtown getting screwed over. The last thing that downtown needs is another huge cluster of superblocks that don't react with each other. Sure, it's great for the metro and growth and business and creating a city that people "have" to move to (like other places people move to because of jobs, not because they want to), but it's not great for creating a downtown that people WANT to live in. There's a difference. It's the great quality of life compromise in my opinion. We put these assets downtown to centralize the city and we think we're doing downtown a great favor and growth is good, of course, but they can also be a double edged sword.

Thanks Lee!

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

this is just more great news for my home state! i'm very glad to hear it. along with the florida gators finally losing a game (to alabama, my second favorite college football team, behind OU, of course!), MAPS3, devon's new highrise, project 180, the list goes on and on. way to go OKC! i can't wait to move home next year!!!!

And so you wish that Oklahoma City would imitate the way that Cleveland and Pittsburgh is doing. But those cities are so much older than Oklahoma City.

There is a very fine line of standing in the way of "progress for the sake of progress" and standing in the way of progress.

Nobody is "standing in the way of progress" .. people need to just get over that.

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

Disagree. Remember the folks who were upset and took action to delay because some of the railroad tracks would be removed to make room for the new I-40 downtown?

If you look at Shane's website, he has a neat little table that shows the population increase for Oklahoma over the last decade. From 2000 to 2005, we were averaging about 15,000 new residents a year. In 2005, the number was 18,320. But then in 2006, just one year later, we gained 41,000 (a jump of 23,000) and started averaging around 38,000, more than double the 2000-2005 period.

What do you guys think is behind this? Our economic situation was clearly better than most other states, but do you think it was so great that it alone can account for that large of a jump?

You can't deny that Tom Elmore had a few points. The problem with Elmore's crusade was that ODOT already gave us the shaft. The highway is already half-way finished..money has been spent. ODOT forced this project on us by lying about the true cost (which was 3 times what they originally said, and no projections are ever THAT badly off) and they never solicited a discussion on the railyard.

When ODOT began moving on the I-35 widening project all the way through Cleveland County, they held multiple town hall meetings. Multiple town hall meetings have been held for the Skelly Drive (I-44) widening project in Tulsa, too. And multiple town hall meetings have been put on by ODOT in both OKC and Tulsa on their application for federal funds for high-speed rail between the two cities, a project that's not even been funded yet. NO advertised, public meetings were held for the Crosstown relocation, a project twice as expensive as the Skelly project, and three times as expensive as the I-35 project.

I think we need more "agitators" like Tom Elmore because anyone who denies how corrupt and inept ODOT is..needs to pass the peace pipe. I also love how ODOT spent 3 times as much as Missouri did on these cable barriers that are just as effective as theirs. And any time an ODOT spokesman is on the news they're always sitting on their fat asses at their desk, not even bothering to stand or look busy, and they usually look fresh out of college and nervous anytime a hard question is asked about ODOT.

Elmore wasn't standing in the way of progress, contrary to popular belief, he had a vision. He just wasn't in touch with the reality and wasn't capable of moving on to something he'd be more effective in advocating for. He should have gotten behind the Bezdek proposal. I remember asking him about it and he seemed to just think it was some new-fangled expensive downtown project. He needs to realize that's just the way any rail is going to be in the beginning of restoring rail transit in Central Oklahoma, because contrary to his belief, the majority of the infrastructure that was once in use IS gone and that's a fact.

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."

ODOT is corrupt.

They sent proposals to Norman for getting rid of the Lindsay exit, when in fact they had no intention of getting rid of the exit. They did it to divert attention away from citizens of Norman asking about other projects such as moving highway 77 and the Robinson tunnel under the railroad as well as any other issue.

They spent thousands of dollars hiring consultants and engineers to design the widening of the interstate without the Lindsay exit.

Typical ODOT!

It is patently false that ODOT held no public meetings regarding the I-40 relocation. I say this as someone who has no connection to ODOT and wouldn't necessarily consider myself a "fan" of theirs. But ODOT held MULTIPLE, widely-publicized meetings prior to the selelction of the relocation route. I know this because I attended a couple. They were covered extensively in the media.

Here are a couple of links from ODOT's site detailing some of the process timeline: Link 1 | Link 2

Perhaps you aren't aware of the meetings because they were held in the mid-late 1990s. These types of projects take many years to come about. Perhaps in 1996 or 1998 a project 10-15 years in future didn't really register with the public, and maybe that is why so few members became engaged. But the facts in the matter are that there WERE a number of very public meetings on the subject of the I-40 relocation. Saying there weren't is revisionist history.

If a meeting is held 10 years before even breaking ground you might as well not even have the meetings. I wasn't lying, I just couldn't come up with any when I did a search on the Oklahoman archives. I didn't set the parameters to include the 1990s though. Give me a break.

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I'm just your typical OKC enthusiast..that's not always "enthusiastic."