OKC MAPS PROJECTS – 25 YEARS
Downtown Study Area Demographic Change If MAPS projects are successful in revitalizing the downtown area, they should trigger several visible and measurable demographic and economic changes in downtown. This section of the report serves as a follow-up to the 2009 report by evaluating the degree to which changes in these factors have taken place in the downtown study area. Trends are examined across a range of factors including population, housing, education, household income, and the downtown workforce. Findings suggest the downtown study area experienced significant acceleration in population growth and housing development since about 2010. Growth in the downtown study area has generally far outpaced the county, metro area, and state on most measures in the period. Population Trends Weak Population Gains 1990-2010 . A key anticipated byproduct of downtown revitalization is a jumpstart to both lagging population gains and a weak housing market downtown. Prior to MAPS, downtown had experienced a weak long-run population trend and struggled with an aging housing market experiencing little redevelopment or new construction. Figure 11 highlights long-run changes in population in the downtown study area. In 1990, prior to the start of MAPS, population in the 14 tracts in the study area totaled only 9,300 persons. Across the decade of the 1990s, population increased only 7.0% (651 persons) and trailed well behind the 10.1% gain countywide and 9.7% gain statewide in the period. The underperformance continued in the decade of the 2000s as downtown population growth slowed to 5.2% (515 persons), trailing county and state gains of 8.8%. Accelerated Population Gains After 2010 . As a result of MAPS, a rebound in population growth in the downtown area was expected to be closely intertwined with increased housing development. Since 2010, marked acceleration in population growth has taken place downtown. Between 2010 and 2017, population in the study area increased by 20.8% (2,168 persons), more than double the 7.7% gain for the county and four-fold the 4.6% gain for the state in the period. Because all Census data at the tract level are based on a five-year survey, the 2017 estimate understates actual population growth in the most recent years reported. Total population in the 14 Census tracts in the study area reached a reported 12,603 persons in 2017, up by nearly 2,200 since 2010 and approximately 3,300 (36% gain) since 1990. Almost three-fourths (9,132 persons) of downtown residents in 2017 live in the ten south Census tracts in the study area. Since 2010, much of the recent net population growth occurred in tracts 1032 (National Memorial and County Jail, 1,434 new residents) and 1038 (Bricktown and Deep Deuce, 420 new residents). Tract 1032 had the most influence on study area population and is heavily influenced by the number of residents living in group quarters, particularly those in the County Jail and in homeless shelters. Because of this influence, estimates of group quarters residents in the study area are evaluated in the next section. Population estimates adjusted for residents in group quarters are then prepared and discussed in the following section.
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