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.
As the 2025 legislative session unfolds, the Chamber's Senior Vice President of Government & Community Relations Mike Jackson shares his insights on key priorities for Oklahoma’s future. In this Q&A, Jackson discusses several legislative initiatives, such as ensuring the state's economic development programs stay competitive, fostering innovation through research partnerships, improving educational outcomes and more. Jackson's responses highlight a commitment to shaping a prosperous, forward-thinking Oklahoma through strategic legislative action.
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 City is holding steady as the most affordable large city in the U.S., according to the 2024 annual Cost of Living Index (COLI) from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). Among cities with populations over 500,000, Oklahoma City ranks #1 for the lowest cost of living.
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt was featured in Smart Cities Dive in an article titled, "How an Oklahoma City sales tax fuels the city’s ‘renaissance.’" The article explores the transformative impact of Oklahoma City’s MAPS initiative, particularly MAPS 4, which has been pivotal in the city’s progress.
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.
