http://www.nedcok.com/managed_files/3254/pop_by_county.pdf

They are predicting 21,000 in Owasso by 2030 and 89,000 in Broken Arrow by 2030. Even further, they are predicting population growth in Picher, OK all the way to 2030. They're saying Edmond will have 79,000 in 2030, and that Bethany will actually continue to grow by about a thousand people every 5 years all the way to 2030.

Ummm... yeah.

I thought they were predicting that Broken Arrow was going to break 100,000 people...

21,000 people for Owasso Thats what I was thinking also...

How can someone say Owasso will only have 21,000 by 2030? Try 75,000! Not even 100,000 for BA by then? Try 200,000!

These are the most retarded estimates I've ever seen...

Those are some pretty bad estimates. It's nice to see your government working hard.

Broken Arrow--- The most 125,000... I am hoping that people start investing in Downtown properties like lofts and that stuff rather than houses... Jenks well grow faster than expected and so well Glenpool...

Owasso-- It is growing fast but 75,000 people?

I think somewhere half-way between Bonsecour and the state's estimates is about right. But Owasso has a lot of land they can annex, and then there's Stone Canyon to be developed...

Annex--- They should combine Collinsville with Owasso and keep the Owasso name...

Stone Canyon... I need to start that section up again...

What was BA's population in 1970? 40,000ish? 2005 -- 100,000. There's no way it won't be 200,000 by 2030?

They have slowed down recently in BA... If it wasn't for the Bass Pro they wouldn't be in the news... They are having trouble building their PAC in downtown...

Yes they have the land and people well keep building but well Oklahoma really get 100,000 people in Tulsa by 2030...

2010 --- Oklahoma well loses another representative making 4 now...


I hope Oklahoma gets 100,00 people to move to Tulsa...

Well there was the report a few months ago that showed that rural populations grew faster than urban populations last year...which is a big change. We're not seeing a huge driving force in people moving to Oklahoma from other states....and still have people leaving the state. In order for any of the ballooned estimates like this to be close, we would have to add another half million people to the state by 2030.

Think back 30 years ago and consider the places that are large suburbs now...were they a town you really even had heard of before? Now jump 30 years from now...consider what towns you have in your metro area that might be the new "burbs". Edmond, Choctaw, Mustang, Yukon, and even Moore weren't really that big 30 years ago in OKC, but look now! I don't really know Tulsa history to comment on the towns up there. I see BA as being a lot like Edmond and Norman though. Large land area, growing constantly with new developments.....farther and farther out.

Owasso doesn't even have an old town area I don't think.

They really don’t... Their Downtown is mostly houses lined up against the street and they built a new municipal building... everything is new...

Population growth shifts can be hard to predict. Noone really knows when an area will be built out and where the next population boom will shift to. I think SE Tulsa/BA is approaching buildout, in a sense. It will still have plenty of growth, but it will slow and start to shift to the North tulsa and/or West Tulsa region. I can make these predictions based on my knowledge of population growth and development trends for the year 2030:

BA: 94,700
Owasso: 45,000
Tulsa: 501,000
Bartlesville: 62,000

Look for suburban sprawl to focus around the Airport and North Tulsa. I'm not sure about West Tulsa and osage County, as the osage Indians are behind that and will limit growth. Owasso, Collinsville, Skiatook will all become continously connected by development to north Tulsa. Bartlesville will continue to boom as Tulsa's favorite retirment comminuty and sprawl south towards Skiatook. A Beltway Highway around North and West Tulsa my be built by then, which would fuel massive urban sprawl in these undeveloped regions. An inward mirgration that most big cities are already experiencing will lead to a downtown Tulsa population boom and many residential, multi-story structures. If mass transit is built to some degree by then, this boom will continue. The Tulsa metro area will have a combined population of ~1,227,000 people by 2030.

I certainly hope your predictions are accurate.

I think Oklahoma as a whole is nearing a breaking point in history where we shift from raising and educating creative people that move away and do business elsewhere to a point where we can retain them or beckon those people to come back to Oklahoma.

An editorial in The Oklahoman was written by a Yale student who just finished law school, and has a NYC apartment. He will be moving to Oklahoma (OKC) when his wife finishes law school.

I think this coming phenomena can be likened to what Hong Kong is experiencing. Their economy is taking off, and opportunity abounds. Suddenly, Chinese people who are 3rd generation expatriats living in Chinatowns around the world are returning to Hong Kong to start businesses and careers.

Indeed. But according to the BA chamber's site, BA is at or near 100,000 folks already. And there is still plenty of room for BA to grow, and Muskogee is also growing towards the northwest. Shortly after Bartlesville is joined to Tulsa, expect to see Muskogee joined as well. Also, Owasso is already at 40,000. I say west Tulsa will be the biggest surprise, and expect to see Sapulpa becoming a bigger player on the metro level, starting slowly soon, and picking up steam gradually.

I say, by 2010, the populations will look like:

Owasso: 40,000
Bixby: 21,000
Jenks: 19,000
Broken Arrow: 102,000
Glenpool: 9,000
Claremore: 18,000
Sapulpa: 21,000
Sand Springs: 18,000

Tulsa: 410,000

Bartlesville could quite possibly be about around 50,000 by 2010. Keep in mind there are currently thousands of homes under construction there...

Meanwhile in OKC, by 2010:

Moore: 50,000
Norman: 111,000
Newcastle: 7,000
Mustang: 16,000
Yukon: 24,000
Edmond: 86,000
Piedmont: 5,000
Midwest City: 56,000
Choctaw: 11,000

Oklahoma City: 555,000