New federal data show Tulsa County is outpacing Oklahoma’s other big counties in wage gains for 2025, with average weekly pay climbing 4.4% and employment inching up 0.9% year over year. That bump nudged Tulsa just ahead of the national wage-growth pace, even though the county’s average weekly paycheck is still below the U.S. mark.
What the numbers show
As reported by The Journal Record, a recent briefing pulled together newly released federal county data for the fourth quarter of 2025 and found that Tulsa was the only one of Oklahoma’s three largest counties to post employment growth between December 2024 and December 2025.
According to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tulsa’s average weekly wages rose 4.4% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared with a 4.2% national increase. Oklahoma County’s average weekly pay increased 3.9%, and Cleveland County’s rose 3.8%. The BLS lists average weekly wages at $1,314 in Tulsa, $1,349 in Oklahoma County, and $1,053 in Cleveland County, while smaller Dewey County logged the state’s highest weekly wage at $1,522 and McIntosh County the lowest at $767.
Why it matters now
The county snapshot lands just as Oklahomans head toward a key vote this Tuesday, June 16, on State Question 832, a citizen initiative that would raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2029 and tie future increases to inflation, according to the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Supporters say the change would boost pay for workers in low-wage counties, while opponents argue it could push up costs for small businesses, and both sides are likely to lean on BLS numbers as they make their case.
Local implications
The BLS release quotes Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters saying, “Tulsa County (+0.9 percent) had the only over-the-year increase in employment,” underscoring that the county’s job gains were modest but still notable in the state context. For Tulsa residents and employers, the pairing of rising wages with slight job growth hints at a tightening labor market in some sectors, while counties with far lower weekly pay could feel very different pressures if the statewide wage floor changes…