Oklahoma's Population Growth Rate Largest In 14 years

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma's rate of growth in the past year is the largest in 14 years and one of the biggest since the 1982 oil boom, a state official said. <br/><br/>Estimates released today by

Friday, December 22nd 2006, 8:07 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma's rate of growth in the past year is the largest in 14 years and one of the biggest since the 1982 oil boom, a state official said.

Estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the number of Oklahoma residents rose to 3,579,212. That's up 35,770, or 1 percent, from 2005.

Leslie Blair, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, says officials suspect the growth and diversification of Oklahoma's economy sparked the population uptick.

Blair says the change is one of the largest the state's seen since the oil boom in 1982.

Oklahoma's 1 percent growth was comparable to population increases in at least 17 other states, including Alaska with 1 percent and Tennessee with 1.4 percent.