Census Shows Oklahoma Has More Hispanics Than Native Americans

The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Census bureau figures released today show there are more Hispanics in Oklahoma than there are Native Americans. In some of state's largest cities, Hispanics make up more than 10 percent of the population.

The state as a whole has 3.75 million residents, and nearly 9 percent identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino. Just over 8.5 percent identified themselves as Native Americans.

The Hispanic population climbed 85 percent between 2000 and 2010. The Native American population was up 18 percent over the decade.

In Oklahoma City, more than 17 percent of its 580,000 residents identified themselves as being of Hispanic descent. In Tulsa, the figure is 14 percent of its 392,000 residents. Other cities with significant Hispanic concentrations are Lawton and Enid.

Figures show that counties surrounding the state's two major cities have grown the fastest during the past 10 years.

Four counties in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area --Cleveland, McClain, Canadian and Logan -- grew by more than 20 percent, as did two counties in the Tulsa metropolitan area -- Rogers and Wagoner.

Marshall County in far south-central Oklahoma also had a growth rate of more than 20 percent. Of Oklahoma's 77 counties, Canadian County had the highest growth rate at 31.8 percent and now has a population of more than 115,000.

Four rural counties saw population drops of 10 percent or more during the past decade -- Cimarron, Tillman, Harmon and Grant.

Nineteen other rural counties lost population during the decade.

The 10 most-populous cities in Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

1. Oklahoma City: 579,999; up from 506,132 in 2000
2. Tulsa: 391,906; down from 393,049 in 2000
3. Norman: 110,925; up from 95,694 in 2000
4. Broken Arrow: 98,850; up from 74,859 in 2000
5. Lawton: 96,867 up from 92,757 in 2000
6. Edmond: 81,405; up from 68,315 in 2000
7. Moore: 55,081; up from 41,138 in 2000
8. Midwest City: 54,371; up from 54,088 in 2000
9. Enid: 49,379; up from 47,045 in 2000
10. Stillwater: 45, 688; up from 39,065 in 2000.