Stephen Jury will serve as the keynote speaker for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber’s State of the Economy event on November 19.
The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) released its third-quarter 2025 Cost of Living Index, showing Oklahoma City’s overall score at 81.9, or 18.1 points below the national average of 100.
Oklahoma City’s unemployment rate held steady in August, continuing a historic stretch of strong job performance across the metro. The OKC metropolitan statistical area (MSA) recorded an unemployment rate of 3.3%, improving from 3.0% in July (seasonally adjusted).
Childcare access has become one of the most pressing workforce challenges in Oklahoma City. The Greater OKC Chamber’s childcare study found that many parents in the metro have had to reduce hours, turn down promotions or even leave their jobs because of limited options. These challenges affect both families and employers.
Oklahoma City continues to be one of the most affordable places to live in the country, according to new data from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). In the second quarter of 2025, OKC ranked first in affordability among all U.S. cities with a population over 500,000. Among all 245 urban areas surveyed, OKC had the sixth lowest cost of living overall.
The Oklahoma City metropolitan area posted a preliminary unemployment rate of 3.0% in July, improving from 3.2% in June. The metro has recorded unemployment below 4% for 48 consecutive months, the longest such stretch in its modern history.
A six-figure salary stretches farther in Oklahoma than in any other state, according to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, published by GOBankingRates.
As Oklahoma City’s manufacturing sector continues to expand, a new generation of skilled workers is stepping up to power that growth. On July 7, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber celebrated the latest milestone for its workforce development efforts with a special signing event for Oklahoma’s first chapter of the nationally recognized Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (OKC FAME) program.
