Tulsa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in the state, behind only Oklahoma County. Its county seat and largest city is Tulsa, the second-largest city in the state. Founded at statehood, in 1907, it was named after the previously established city of Tulsa. Before statehood, the area was part of both the Creek Nation and the Cooweescoowee District of Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory. Tulsa County is included in the Tulsa metropolitan statistical area. Tulsa County is notable for being the most densely populated county in the state. Tulsa County also ranks as having the highest income.

History

The history of Tulsa County greatly overlaps the history of the city of Tulsa. This section addresses events that largely occurred outside the present city limits of Tulsa.

Lasley Vore Site

The Lasley Vore Site, along the Arkansas River south of Tulsa, was claimed by University of Tulsa anthropologist George Odell to be the most likely place where Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe first encountered a group of Wichita people in 1719. Odell's statement was based on finding both Wichita and French artifacts there during an architectural dig in 1988.

Old Fort Arbuckle

The U. S. Government's removal of Native American tribes from the southeastern United States to "Indian Territory" did not take into account how that would impact the lives and attitudes of the nomadic tribes that already used the same land as their hunting grounds. At first, Creek immigrants stayed close to Fort Gibson, near the confluence of the Arkansas and Verdigris rivers. However, the government encouraged newer immigrants to move farther up the Arkansas. The Osage tribe had agreed to leave the land near the Verdigris, but had not moved far and soon threatened the new Creek settlements.

In 1831, a party led by Rev. Isaac McCoy and Lt. James L. Dawson blazed a trail up the north side of the Arkansas from Fort Gibson to its junction with the Cimarron River. In 1832, Dawson was sent again to select sites for military posts. One of his recommended sites was about two and a half miles downstream from the Cimarron River junction. The following year, Brevet Major George Birch and two companies of the 7th Infantry Regiment followed the "Dawson Road" to the aforementioned site. Flattering his former commanding officer, General Matthew Arbuckle, Birch named the site "Fort Arbuckle."

According to Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, the fort was about west of the present city of Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Author James Gardner visited the site in the early 1930s. His article describing the visit includes an old map showing the fort located on the north bank of the Arkansas River near Sand Creek, just south of the line separating Tulsa County and Osage County. After ground was cleared and a blockhouse built, Fort Arbuckle was abandoned November 11, 1834. The remnants of stockade and some chimneys could still be seen nearly a hundred years later.

The next battle occurred December 9, 1861. Col. Cooper's force attacked the Unionists at Chusto-Talasah (Caving Banks) on the Horseshoe Bend of Bird Creek in what is now Tulsa County. The Confederates drove the Unionists across Bird Creek, but could not pursue, because they were short of ammunition. Still, the Confederates could claim victory.

Other producing wells followed soon after. The next big strike in Tulsa County was the Glenn Pool Oil Reserve in the vicinity of where Glenpool, Oklahoma was later founded..

Ironically, while the city of Tulsa claimed to be "Oil Capital of the World" for much of the 20th century, a city ordinance banned drilling for oil within the city limits.

Tulsa County Court House

In 1911–1912, Tulsa County built a court house in Tulsa on the northeast corner of Sixth Street and South Boulder Avenue. Yule marble was used in its construction. The land had previously been the site of a mansion owned by George Perryman and his wife. This was the court house where a mob of white residents gathered on May 31, 1921, threatening to lynch a young black man held in the top-floor jail. It was the beginning of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

An advertisement for bids specified that the building should be fireproof, built of either reinforced concrete or steel and concrete. The size was to be with three floors and a full basement. Cost of the building was not to exceed $200,000. The jail on the top floor was not to exceed $25,000.

The building continued to serve until the present court house building (shown above) opened at 515 South Denver. The old building was then demolished and the land was sold to private investors. The land is now the site of the Bank of America building, completed in 1967.

1921 race massacre

In the early 20th century, Tulsa was home to the "Black Wall Street", one of the most prosperous Black communities in the United States at the time. Located in the Greenwood neighborhood, it was the site of the Tulsa Race Massacre, said to be "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history", in which mobs of white Tulsans killed black Tulsans, looted and robbed the black community, and burned down homes and businesses.

Geography and climate

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.9%) is water.

The Arkansas River drains most of the county. Keystone Lake, formed by a dam on the Arkansas River, lies partially in the county. Bird Creek and the Caney River, tributaries of the Verdigris River drain the northern part of the county.

|align-fn=center

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<br />1790-1960 1900-1990<br />1990-2000 2010-2019

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 669,279. Of the residents, 24.4% were under the age of 18 and 15.3% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 36.3 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.0 males.

The racial makeup of the county was 58.4% White, 10.1% Black or African American, 6.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.8% Asian, 7.2% from some other race, and 14.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 14.9% of the population.

As of 2010, there were 241,737 households, out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.3% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 29.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 22% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.07.

As of 2010 in the county, the population was spread out, with 26.30% under the age of 18, 10.00% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 21.60% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.90 males.

As of 2010, the median income for a household in the county was $47,005, and the median income for a family was $60,093. The per capita income for the county was $27,425. About 11.0% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.6% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over. Of the county's population over the age of 25, 29.2% held a bachelor's degree or higher, and 88.2% have a high school diploma or equivalent.

Government

Tulsa County has nine elected county officials: three county commissioners, a county sheriff, a district attorney, an assessor, a treasurer, a county clerk, and a county court clerk.

{| class="wikitable"

|+County officials The one elected Associate Judge for Tulsa County is Cliff Smith of Tulsa.

!Position

!Official

!First elected

!Next Re-election Year

!Hometown

|-

| Office 1

| Caroline Wall

| 2010

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 2

| Sharron Holmes

| 2014

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 3

| Tracy Priddy

| 2018

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 4

| Daman H. Cantrell

| 1998

| 2026

| Owasso

|-

| Office 5 (Pawnee County)

| Michelle L. Bodine-Keely

| 2020

| 2026

| Cleveland

|-

| Office 6

| Kelly Greenough

| 2016

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 7

| William LaFortune

| 2014

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 8

| Doug Drummond

| 2014

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 9

| Richard L. Hathcoat

| 2023

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 10

| Dawn Moody

| 2018

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 11

| Rebecca Nightingale

| 2002

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 12

| Kevin Gray

| 2022

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 13

| David Guten

| 2022

| 2026

| Tulsa

|-

| Office 14

| Kurt G. Glassco

| 2009

| 2026

| Tulsa

|}

Politics

Tulsa County is very conservative for an urban county; it has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1940. The county's Republican bent predates Oklahoma's swing toward the GOP. Oklahoma has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1952, except in 1964 when Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a landslide.

George H. W. Bush in 1992 remains the only Republican since Alf Landon in 1936 to fail to obtain a majority in the county, and even then only because of Ross Perot’s strong third-party candidacy.

In 2020, Joe Biden became the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to win more than 40% of the vote in Tulsa County, and only the second to do so since 1948. It is one of only two counties in the state, alongside Oklahoma County, where Biden outperformed Southerner Jimmy Carter's 1976 margin, when he narrowly lost the state.

In 2022, Democratic gubernatorial candidate (and county resident) Joy Hofmeister narrowly carried the county, 49.1-48.9, against incumbent Republican Kevin Stitt. This was the first time Tulsa County had backed a Democratic gubernatorial candidate since 2006, and the first time in its history that it had ever backed a losing Democrat for governor.

In 2024, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris won 41.3% of the vote in the county, the highest vote share since 1964. The county swung towards Democrats by less than 1 percentage point from 2020 to 2024. The county still remained strongly Republican.

The city of Tulsa is consistently conservative and regularly votes Republican in presidential and other statewide races. In recent years, this advantage has considerably narrowed. Its urban core is a swing region. After voting for Donald Trump in 2016 by four points, it swung to a six-point win for Joe Biden in 2020, and also backed Drew Edmondson for Governor in 2018 by 13 points. The rest of the city, however, remains very strongly Republican.

In February 2020, registered Republicans were reduced from a majority to a plurality in the county's voter registration.

{| class=wikitable

! colspan = 6 | Voter registration and party enrollment as of January 15, 2025

|-

! colspan = 2 | Party

! Number of Voters

! Percentage

|-

|

| Republican

| align = center | 195,133

| align = center | 47.96%

|-

|

| Democratic

| align = center | 119,120

| align = center | 29.29%

|-

|

| Libertarian

| align = center | 4,207

| align = center | 1.03%

|-

|

| Unaffiliated

| align = center | 88,390

| align = center | 21.72%

|-

! colspan = 2 | Total

! align = center | 406,850

! align = center | 100%

|}

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Parks and recreation

River Parks was established in 1974 as a joint operation of the City of Tulsa and Tulsa County, with funding from both governments as well as private entities. It is not a part of the Tulsa Parks and Recreation Department, but is managed by the River Parks Authority. It is a series of linear parks that run adjacent to the Arkansas River for about from downtown to the Jenks bridge. Since 2007 a significant portion of the River Parks area has been renovated with new trails, landscaping and playground equipment. The River Parks Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area on the west side of the Arkansas River in south Tulsa is a area that contains over of dirt trails available for hiking, trail running, mountain biking and horseback riding. The "Tulsa Townies" organization provide bicycles that may be checked out for use. There are three kiosks in the parks where bicycles may be obtained or returned.

Communities

Cities

  • Bixby (part)
  • Broken Arrow (part)
  • Collinsville
  • Glenpool
  • Jenks
  • Owasso (part)
  • Sand Springs (part)
  • Sapulpa (part)
  • Skiatook (part)
  • Tulsa (county seat) (part)

Towns

  • Liberty (part)
  • Lotsee
  • Sperry

Census-designated places

  • Leonard
  • Oakhurst
  • Turley

Unincorporated communities

  • Berryhill
  • Garnett
  • Lake
  • Mingo

Former communities

  • Alsuma - Annexed by Tulsa in 1968.
  • Carbondale - Annexed by Tulsa in 1928.
  • Dawson - Annexed by Tulsa in 1949.
  • Keystone - Submerged by Keystone Lake, whose construction began in 1958.
  • North Tulsa - Annexed by Tulsa in 1904.
  • Prattville - Annexed by Sand Springs in 1965.
  • Red Fork - Annexed by Tulsa in 1927.
  • Berryhill Public Schools
  • Bixby Public Schools
  • Broken Arrow Public Schools
  • Collinsville Public Schools
  • Glenpool Public Schools
  • Jenks Public Schools
  • Liberty Public Schools
  • Owasso Public Schools
  • Sand Springs Public Schools (operates Charles Page High School)
  • Skiatook Public Schools
  • Sperry Public Schools
  • Tulsa Public Schools
  • Union Public Schools
  • Keystone Public School (elementary only)

Colleges and universities

Public institutions:

  • University of Tulsa
  • Tulsa Community College

Private institutions:

  • Oral Roberts University

NRHP sites

The following sites in Tulsa County are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

  • 66 Motel, Tulsa
  • Ambassador Hotel, Tulsa
  • Bishop Kelley High School
  • Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, Tulsa
  • Boulder-on-the-Park, Tulsa
  • Brady Heights Historic District, Tulsa
  • Broken Arrow Elementary--Junior High School, Broken Arrow
  • Cain's Dancing Academy, Tulsa
  • The Church Studio, Tulsa
  • Circle Theater, Tulsa
  • Clinton-Hardy House, Tulsa
  • Tulsa Convention Hall, Tulsa
  • Cosden Building, Tulsa
  • Creek Council Oak Tree, Tulsa
  • Dawson School, Tulsa
  • Carl K. Dresser House, Tulsa
  • Eleventh Street Arkansas River Bridge, Tulsa
  • Fort Arbuckle Site, Sand Springs
  • Gillette Historic District, Tulsa
  • Gillette-Tyrell Building, Tulsa (Later named the Pythian Building)
  • Harwelden Mansion, Tulsa
  • Haskell State School of Agriculture, Broken Arrow
  • Holy Family Cathedral, Rectory, and School, Tulsa
  • Hooper Brothers Coffee Company Building, Tulsa
  • Robert Lawton Jones House, Tulsa
  • Maple Ridge Historic Residential District, Tulsa
  • Mayo Building, Tulsa
  • Mayo Hotel, Tulsa
  • Mayo Motor Inn
  • James H. McBirney House, Tulsa
  • McFarlin Building, Tulsa
  • Robert M. McFarlin House, Tulsa
  • B. W. McLean House and Office, Jenks
  • Mincks-Adams Hotel, Tulsa
  • Moore Manor, Tulsa
  • Mount Zion Baptist Church, Tulsa
  • North Cheyenne Historic District, Tulsa
  • Oil Capital of the World Historic District
  • Oklahoma Natural Gas Company Building, Tulsa
  • Owen Park Historic District, Tulsa
  • Page Memorial Library, Sand Springs
  • Foster B. Parriott House, Tulsa
  • Petroleum Building, Tulsa
  • Philcade Building, Tulsa
  • Phillips 66 Station 473, Tulsa
  • Waite Phillips Mansion (now Philbrook Museum), Tulsa
  • Philtower, Tulsa
  • Pierce Block, Tulsa
  • Public Service of Oklahoma Building, Tulsa
  • Ranch Acres Historic Residential District, Tulsa
  • Riverside Historic Residential District, Tulsa
  • Riverside Studio, Tulsa
  • Sand Springs Power Plant, Sand Springs
  • Sinclair Service Station, Tulsa
  • William G. Skelly House, Tulsa
  • Southwestern Bell Main Dial Building, Tulsa
  • St. John Vianney Training School for Girls, Tulsa
  • Swan Lake Historic District, Tulsa
  • Tracy Park Historic District
  • Tribune Building, Tulsa
  • Tulsa Fire Alarm Building, Tulsa
  • Tulsa Municipal Building, Tulsa
  • United States Post Office and Courthouse, Tulsa
  • James Alexander Veasey House, Tulsa
  • Vickery Phillips 66 Station, Tulsa
  • Westhope, Tulsa
  • White City Historic District, Tulsa
  • Woodward Park and Gardens Historic District
  • Yorktown Historic District, Tulsa

See also

  • Lasley Vore Site
  • Yule marble

References

  • Tulsa County Government's website
  • Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory