Oklahoma City officially opened the OKANA Resort and Indoor Waterpark with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking a major milestone for the city’s tourism industry and the Chickasaw Nation’s economic development efforts. The $400 million development in the Horizons District, next to the First Americans Museum (FAM), is the largest commercial investment in Oklahoma City history.
In this month’s Leadership Notes, Chamber President and CEO Christy Gillenwater discusses the exciting growth and transformation happening in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City's steady job growth, younger-than-average population and role as the state's economic driver position the metro for long-term success, according to the 2025 Greater Oklahoma City Economic Outlook. The study, completed by Russell Evans, partner and chief economist for Thorberg Collective, and Eric Long, research economist for the Chamber, projects a 2.5% increase in metro job growth for 2025, adding 18,200 jobs.
For the month of December, Oklahoma City MSA unemployment (2.8%) remained unchanged from the previous month (November 2.8%). The Oklahoma City metro has enjoyed 41 consecutive months of less than 4 percent unemployment. This continues to be Oklahoma City’s longest unemployment streak under 4 percent in modern history.
Oklahoma ranked ninth in the nation for the annual cost of raising a child, making it one of the more affordable states in the United States. The estimated annual cost to raise a child in Oklahoma is $19,535, according to data compiled by Visual Capitalist. This places the state at 42nd on the list, since the article rankings are listed from most to least expensive.
Oklahoma has emerged as the 11th fastest-growing state in 2024, according to the U-Haul® Growth Index data that analyzed one-way customer transactions during the past year.
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber's annual State of the Economy event highlighted Oklahoma's economic outlook, workforce development, and fiscal policies in the context of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. The event featured a keynote by Andrew Busch, economic futurist and former Chief Market Intelligence Officer for the U.S. government.
Oklahoma ranked third in economic freedom in the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of North America’s 2024 report, which analyzes data from the 2022 fiscal year. The report uses the all-government index to compare all 50 U.S. states, Canadian provinces and Mexican jurisdictions.
