http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/06/best-and-worst-places-for-jobs-business-beltway.html

I think OKC is finally being recognized as one of THE places to be now and in the future. It's great to see so much positive news on all fronts about our city and the best is yet to come.

I think OKC is finally being recognized as one of THE places to be now and in the future. It's great to see so much positive news on all fronts about our city and the best is yet to come.

And we just came out as number 9 on this list although we have done better in the past.

http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/06/bargain-cities-affordable-real-estate-personal-finance.html

All the great press still fails to translate to other than tepid population growth. Why is this so?

I think greater population growth is inevitable given how much more popular OKC is on the national level. The next decade of growth will be unprecedented.

All the great press still fails to translate to other than tepid population growth. Why is this so?

This is not intended to be a thread hijack but the simple fact is that everyday people from outside of Oklahoma still have a bad image of OKC as being a dirty cowtown full or rednecks. I have also heard people who have spent time there say "OKC is nice but........you can fill in the blanks with every stereotype you can imagine but the most common one I have heard is they see Oklahoma as being overly conservative. In order to grow into a major city OKC is going to have to embrace diversity of thought.
On a side-note i now live in Atlanta, I want to move back to OKC in the future and I really do not want it to be like this place.

I don't think you can get most people to embrace diversity of thought once they've already decided how they think and what they believe. The best way to create diversity of thought it to either educate children or to encourage people with different ways of thinking to move here. And in fact, most people don't really like diversity...they like people to think like them. Even if you look at places we always think of as progressive, such as Portland or Seattle, they probably would be unhappy with people living there who have a conservative philosophy. They're not really any more open to different ways of thinking. I think an appreciation of diversity of thinking is probably the most evolved type of society imagineable, and I'm not really sure where you find that in large proportion, other than randomly in places that appeal to both conservatives and liberals who happen to find themselves in the same location.

I think greater population growth is inevitable given how much more popular OKC is on the national level. The next decade of growth will be unprecedented.
That will be a very tall order given how fast OKC grew during the oil booms of the early 1900's

All the great press still fails to translate to other than tepid population growth. Why is this so?

Oklahoma City is showing great population growth, even though its not as fast as other cities, it is still impressive given our past history:

Historical populations

1900 10,037 141.8%

1910 64,205 539.7%

1920 91,295 42.2%

1930 185,389 103.1%

1940 204,424 10.3%

1950 243,504 19.1%

1960 321,599 32.1%

1970 368,164 14.5%

1980 404,014 9.7%

1990 438,922 8.6%

2000 506,132 15.3%

Est. 2009 560,333 10.7%

And I wouldn't be surprised if OKC hit 570,000 for the 2010 census, that's pretty good if you ask me...

I also think we could hit 600,000 by 2015!

Oklahoma City is showing great population growth, even though its not as fast as other cities, it is still impressive given our past history

And I wouldn't be surprised if OKC hit 570,000 for the 2010 census, that's pretty good if you ask me...

I also think we could hit 600,000 by 2015!

I think it is better to look at MSA numbers:

1970 724,439
1980 871,821
1990 971,042
2000 1,095,421
2009 est. 1,227,278

The OKC area has seen an uptick in growth since 2005, growing by roughly 18k per year as opposed to the 11k per year it was growing from 2000 to 2005. If it stays on its current trajectory, the metro could hit 1.45 million people by 2020.

That sort of growth is comparable to greater Salt Lake City or Columbus, OH and while I wouldn't call it "tepid," it still is a far cry from the rapid growth of other mid-sized cities like Austin or Charlotte.

I live in Atlanta and wouldn't know OKC existed if I didn't have family ties. It requires slick marketing. I'm not sure that you want that kind of growth though. Atlanta is all about slick and it doesn't have a lot of soul left. I feel a soul in OKC.

I think it is better to look at MSA numbers:

1970 724,439
1980 871,821
1990 971,042
2000 1,095,421
2009 est. 1,227,278

The OKC area has seen an uptick in growth since 2005, growing by roughly 18k per year as opposed to the 11k per year it was growing from 2000 to 2005. If it stays on its current trajectory, the metro could hit 1.45 million people by 2020.

That sort of growth is comparable to greater Salt Lake City or Columbus, OH and while I wouldn't call it "tepid," it still is a far cry from the rapid growth of other mid-sized cities like Austin or Charlotte.

That is a good thing. Adding too many people at once causes problems. OKC's growth rate is steady which allows the city to plan better for the growth.