http://bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_metro/2014/pdf/gdp_metro0914.pdf

A good read for the data nerds like myself.

Oklahoma City has a metro GDP of around $71 billion, good for 44th in the nation.

More impressive, OKC's economy grew at a rate of 3.9% last year, compared to 1.7% for US Metros as a whole. This ranks us 56 out of 381 MSA's (Top 15th percentile)

How this compares to metros in in the region:

Wichita--0.7%
Kansas City--1.4%
Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington--2.1%
Austin/Round Rock--2.2%
Tulsa--3.5%
Denver/Aurora/Lakewood--4.3%

All in all, pretty good considering the licks OKC took in 2013 (May tornadoes, Chesapeake layoffs, government shutdown).

Interesting -- thanks for sharing and breaking it down.

You've got to believe these numbers will take a big jump in 2014. I bet we'll be near the top of the percentage growth numbers.

The OKC economic train just keeps gaining momentum and there is tons in the pipeline: massive expansion at Tinker, Hobby Lobby getting ready to almost double it's square footage, the boom at AEP, CLR and other energy companies, GE, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger and tons of other light manufacturing and distribution centers.

I agree.

For all the talk that OKC needs to bring in new companies (which definitely wouldn't hurt), the vast majority of growth is coming from investments in companies/orgs that are already based here.

Given that a lot of cities down here in Texas are starting to get crowded and surprisingly expensive, I think OKC would be wise to really start advertising and marketing itself as an equally prosperous but more liveable alternative to TX.

You do have to wonder how long OKC can pitch being a cheap, low cost, affordable city. I wonder how far away we are from becoming crowded and expensive like Austin, which I don't think is a bad thing by any means; but I know a ton of people who don't want that.

You do have to wonder how long OKC can pitch being a cheap, low cost, affordable city. I wonder how far away we are from becoming crowded and expensive like Austin, which I don't think is a bad thing by any means; but I know a ton of people who don't want that.

I believe OKC is still quite a ways off from that. COL won't skyrocket as long as land remains cheap especially in the urban core which still has a lot of emptiness waiting to be developed. The city is still pretty early in its boom cycle if it does follow the same path as places like Austin, Denver, Charlotte, etc. Like in every boomtown, there will be natives that moan about the traffic, crowding, and increased home prices that will come with a large population influx. They will have to accept the change whether they like it or not. Texas COL is getting higher but it is still lower than California or the Northeast and therefore still very desirable for people looking to escape those places. There are also currently fewer tradeoffs in terms of amenities for people moving to a Texas city from the coasts as long as they don't mind the traffic.

I believe OKC is still quite a ways off from that. COL won't skyrocket as long as land remains cheap especially in the urban core which still has a lot of emptiness waiting to be developed. The city is still pretty early in its boom cycle if it does follow the same path as places like Austin, Denver, Charlotte, etc. Like in every boomtown, there will be natives that moan about the traffic, crowding, and increased home prices that will come with a large population influx. They will have to accept the change whether they like it or not. Texas COL is getting higher but it is still lower than California or the Northeast and therefore still very desirable for people looking to escape those places. There are also currently fewer tradeoffs in terms of amenities for people moving to a Texas city from the coasts as long as they don't mind the traffic.That's true but I've heard Austin's housing prices are starting to rival Cali's.

Oklahoma City, Tulsa metro economic growth paces jump ahead of national average | News OK (http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-tulsa-metro-economic-growth-paces-jump-ahead-of-national-average/article/5342728)

You do have to wonder how long OKC can pitch being a cheap, low cost, affordable city. I wonder how far away we are from becoming crowded and expensive like Austin, which I don't think is a bad thing by any means; but I know a ton of people who don't want that.

Probably about 2,700,000 people in the MSA…and I'm not sure that that's not too low a number.

Austin is probably experiencing super expensive home prices because 1. the supply/demand of housing is nowhere near being balanced and 2. moving in the city is a cluster %$&!. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who don't want to spend 2 hours a day in their car traveling a total of 50 miles, so that really limits how far outside of the business areas that people can buy, particularly downtown.

OKC is a wide-open prairie, and moving in the city is always going to be relatively easy because of the high-way system and Grid.

Austin doesn't have a regional grid, which is worth nothing. They're on a fast swing from 2 million residents now to potentially 4 million by 2025. In 1970 it was a sleepy liberal oasis of 250,000. That level of growth would cause systemic stress anywhere.

It's all exacerbated by their local culture that "if we don't build it, they won't come." They didn't build it (advanced transit infrastructure), but they came anyway. So here is where Austin finds itself today.

It's all exacerbated by their local culture that "if we don't build it, they won't come." They didn't build it (advanced transit infrastructure), but they came anyway. So here is where Austin finds itself today.

It's really just a matter of time before Austin becomes as expensive and as overcrowded as the California people are flooding there to escape. It will be interesting to see if there is a significant slowdown in Austin's growth and how long it will be before it happens.

Austin doesn't have a regional grid, which is worth nothing. They're on a fast swing from 2 million residents now to potentially 4 million by 2025. In 1970 it was a sleepy liberal oasis of 250,000. That level of growth would cause systemic stress anywhere.

It's all exacerbated by their local culture that "if we don't build it, they won't come." They didn't build it (advanced transit infrastructure), but they came anyway. So here is where Austin finds itself today.

You're absolutely right. Austin grew up as a big town capital and found itself, over just a couple of decades, morphing into a big city with nowhere for transportation infrastructure to go. I love Austin, but despise not just crowded highways, but highways that are so crowded they are more like parking lots. If people think Dallas traffic is bad - visit Austin or Houston. Both bad for different reasons. Austin just lacks the room to grow and Houston has had too much room to grow and traffic everywhere is just crazy.

Austin doesn't have a regional grid, which is worth nothing. They're on a fast swing from 2 million residents now to potentially 4 million by 2025. In 1970 it was a sleepy liberal oasis of 250,000. That level of growth would cause systemic stress anywhere.

It's all exacerbated by their local culture that "if we don't build it, they won't come." They didn't build it (advanced transit infrastructure), but they came anyway. So here is where Austin finds itself today.

Dell sure came anyway.

Dell started in a dorm room at UT. It's not like they came to Austin from somewhere else.

Interesting -- thanks for sharing and breaking it down.

You've got to believe these numbers will take a big jump in 2014. I bet we'll be near the top of the percentage growth numbers.

The OKC economic train just keeps gaining momentum and there is tons in the pipeline: massive expansion at Tinker, Hobby Lobby getting ready to almost double it's square footage, the boom at AEP, CLR and other energy companies, GE, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger and tons of other light manufacturing and distribution centers.

No love for Boeing? Boeing has brought in about 1300 new (highly paid) people, most of them in 2013, with about 900 more announced jobs on the way over the next couple of years. I live on a cul de sac with 11 houses, 5 of them are owned by freshly relocated Boeing people. They are also looking into building another building on their lot and are currently adding about 1000 parking spots. Not sure of the percentages, but a very high percentage of the jobs are relocations, current employees from Cali, Wichita and Huntsville, and new hires from all over since OKC doesn't have a lot of aerospace engineers sitting around.