Tulsa County is rife with economic disparities across gender and race, according to recent data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The median earnings for Black households was around $41,000 compared to earnings for white households, which brought in around $76,000. Between men and women, a similar gap exists: Men made median earnings just below $70,000, compared to women making between $46,000 to $48,000.
The median represents the middle value in a dataset. It’s less influenced by outliers, like Tulsans who make extremely high or low salaries. For example, the average $97,000 household income in Tulsa County last year is higher than the median, which was estimated around $68,000.
The data comes from the U.S. Census one-year estimates from 2024, which are published annually. It can tell us a lot about the more than 693,000 people who live in Tulsa County. Here are some highlights:
Demographics and population:
- The county has grown since 2023, increasing by around 10,000 residents last year.
- The median age of a county resident was around 36, and almost half were married.
- The county remained predominantly white, with significant percentages of mixed-race and Hispanic or Latino residents.
- Around 75% of the county’s Hispanic or Latino population is foreign-born and not a U.S. citizen.
Housing and poverty:
- Household sizes have shrunk since 2023, from around 3.5 people in a household to around 2.5.
- Poverty status decreased slightly overall to 10% of county households but remained elevated for certain groups. For single women with a family, that rate was 28% — but it jumped by another 10% for women with kids under 18.
Education and employment:
- Nearly a quarter of the county’s workforce is employed in educational services, health care or social services.
- More than 177,000 Tulsa County residents were enrolled in school, and more than 80% of children attended public schools.
- Only a quarter of adults held a bachelor’s degree, and another quarter only held a high school diploma. Of the nearly 40,000 students enrolled in college or graduate school, almost half are older than 25 years old.
- Business majors are on the rise in Tulsa County, with almost 6,000 more last year in comparison to 2023.
- The gender gap in college students grew in 2024 — around 17,000 men to nearly 23,000 women are enrolled in higher education. That’s around 2,000 more women than the year before.
And that only scratches the surface of what the census can tell us about Tulsa last year. Have a specific question? We’d love to answer it. Email connect@tulsaflyer.org to let us know what you’d like explored.
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