ECONOMIC SUMMARY WITH FORECASTS FOR 2008-2011 

The Tulsa MSA comprises seven counties: Creek, Okmulgee, Osage, Pawnee, Rogers, Tulsa and Wagoner, with an aggregate population estimated to be 891,000 or 25 percent of the population of the state of Oklahoma. The gross product, or value of all goods and services produced in the seven-county MSA is $30.9 billion (constant dollars), or 29 percent of the Oklahoma economy.

The economic decline that Tulsa experienced in 2002 and 2003 and bottoming in 2004 set the stage for sustained, albeit moderate growth in 2005, followed by growth in 2006 that positioned Tulsa as one of the fastest growing job markets in the country. Tulsa’s cost of doing business is 10 percent below the U.S. average, making Tulsa the fifth least expensive of the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the country and a prime location for industry prospects looking to expand or relocate. In 2007, Tulsa’s gross product of goods and services should grow 4.6 percent to $32.3 billion. After strong growth of 2.3 percent in 2006, employment expected growth is 1.7 percent due to continued capital expansion in manufacturing, business and professional services, health services and construction, with real personal income growing 3 percent. 

Tulsa’s major industries are aerospace, including aerospace manufacturing and air transportation; health care, telecommunications, petroleum and natural gas, and architectural and structural metals manufacturing. Construction is also growing in Tulsa, with the development of the new BOK Center leading the way.

Tulsa’s infrastructure for business includes the Port of Catoosa, an inland port that makes bulk shipping to and from coastal ports accessible and economical, and two central networks for broadband interconnect.  

Forbes magazine (May 2006) ranked Tulsa as the metropolitan area with the fifth lowest cost of doing business of the largest 150 MSAs in the country. The ranking takes into account the cost of labor, the cost of office space, energy costs and taxes. The ACCRA Cost-of-living Index compared 275 urban areas in its fourth-quarter 2006 publication, and gave Tulsa a composite index value of 92. That is, the cost of living in Tulsa is 8 percent below the average cost of all 275 urban areas. The index takes into account the costs of food, housing, utilities, transportation and health care.

In 2007, Forbes.com generated their "Best Cities for Jobs" list and Tulsa ranked #6, a jump from the #35 ranking Tulsa received in 2005. Criteria for the list was derived from rankings among median household income, unemployment, income growth, cost of living, and job growth within the largest 100 metropolitan areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Within those specific rankings Tulsa ranked seventh in income growth, tenth in cost of living, 18th in job growth and 23rd in low unemployment.