{ "id": "epg6p17k76", "slug": "oklahoma", "title": "Oklahoma", "updated": "2026-10-21", "topic_path": [ { "id": "places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places" }, { "id": "places.administrative", "label": "Administrative and cadastral territories", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.administrative" }, { "id": "places.administrative.first", "label": "First-order subdivisions", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.administrative.first" }, { "id": "places.administrative.first.americas_provinces", "label": "Provinces of the Americas", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.administrative.first.americas_provinces" }, { "id": "places.administrative.first.americas_provinces.alpha-m-to-z", "label": "Titles M to Z", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/places.administrative.first.americas_provinces.alpha-m-to-z" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1800.places.administrative", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945: Administrative and cadastral territories", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.places.administrative", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.places" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.places.administrative", "label": "Administrative and cadastral territories", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.places.administrative" } ] }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.places.administrative", "label": "United States · 2021 and later: Administrative and cadastral territories", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.places.administrative", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021", "label": "United States · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.places", "label": "Places and geography", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.places" }, { "id": "geo.us.t2021.places.administrative", "label": "Administrative and cadastral territories", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t2021.places.administrative" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Oklahoma, the 46th U.S. state (admitted November 16, 1907), was formed by merging Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory after the 1889 land runs; capital area Oklahoma City, population about 4.1 million.", "snippet": "Oklahoma, the 46th U.S. state (admitted November 16, 1907), was formed by merging Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory after the 1889 land runs; capital area Oklahoma City, population about 4.1 million.", "node": "places.administrative.first.americas_provinces.alpha-m-to-z", "markdown": "# Oklahoma\n\n**Oklahoma** is a state in the south-central United States, admitted to the Union on November 16, 1907 as the forty-sixth state, formed by the merger of the Oklahoma Territory and the [Indian Territory](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-territory).[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma) Its land area is 68,596.53 square miles, and its population was estimated at 4,123,288 on July 1, 2025.[2](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/OK)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Statehood | November 16, 1907, by Presidential Proclamation 780 signed by Theodore Roosevelt, as the 46th state[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma) |\n| Formation | Merger of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory into a single state, as Congress insisted[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma) |\n| Land Run of 1889 | April 22, 1889; about 50,000 settlers claimed roughly 1.9 million acres; Oklahoma City and Guthrie each had as many as 10,000 settlers by day's end[3](https://apnews.com/article/a2f8b02c647920b3686ddff9223ca66e) • [4](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=ST025) |\n| Territorial era | Oklahoma Territory created by the Organic Act of May 2, 1890; existed seventeen years until statehood[5](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=OK085) |\n| Population (2025 est.) | 4,123,288; 9.4% American Indian and Alaska Native alone; median household income $65,039 (2020–2024)[2](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/OK) |\n| Tribal economy | Tribal nations account for an estimated 8 percent of state GDP and more than 54,000 jobs as of 2019[6](https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/constraining-the-choice-set-oklahomas-limited-approach-to-building-economic-resilience/) |\n| Climate record | Greatest annual precipitation at an official station: 84.47 inches at Kiamichi Tower, in the southeast, in 1957[7](https://www.ou.edu/ocs/oklahoma-climate) |\n\n## From Indian Territory to open lands\n\nMost of the land that is now Oklahoma was acquired by the United States in 1803 as part of the [Louisiana Purchase](https://www.edgepedia.org/louisiana-purchase). In the 1830s the federal government used this land to relocate Indian tribes, and the Indian Territory was formed from land set aside by the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834. The Indian Territory originally extended beyond present-day Oklahoma, but its size was gradually reduced over the course of the 19th century.[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma)\n\nGovernment officials had early identified the region as a suitable Indian Colonization Zone, and between 1803 and 1861 expansion into the area was directed by eastern centers of political and economic power toward purposes including resettlement, resource extraction, and agriculture.[8](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=WE021)\n\n**The land runs.** In 1889 Congress authorized the opening of land seized from the Indian Territory for homestead settlement.[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma) The first opening came at noon on April 22, 1889, when thousands of homesteaders staked claims to nearly 1.9 million acres (770,000 hectares) of the Unassigned Lands, officially titled the Oklahoma District, an area of about two million acres covering six counties of present central Oklahoma.[3](https://apnews.com/article/a2f8b02c647920b3686ddff9223ca66e) • [9](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SE024) Approximately fifty thousand non-Indian settlers made that first run, and they began immediately to clamor for statehood in order to gain representation in Congress.[4](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=ST025) By the end of the day, [Oklahoma City](https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma-city) and Guthrie were established with as many as 10,000 settlers each.[3](https://apnews.com/article/a2f8b02c647920b3686ddff9223ca66e) The government opened the western parts of the territory to settlers through a total of six land runs between 1889 and 1895.[10](https://digitalprairie.ok.gov/digital/api/collection/stgovpub/id/289014/download) Contests over claims followed, including those of \"sooners,\" people who entered the lands illegally before the official openings.[9](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SE024)\n\n## The Oklahoma Territory\n\nOn May 2, 1890, the Organic Act provided the framework of a territorial government, and Congress confirmed George Washington Steele as the first Territorial Governor.[5](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=OK085) • [1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma) The act also attached the Public Land Strip, or No Man's Land (the Panhandle), as Beaver County, and carried a provision assuring periodic expansion: adjoining [Indian reservation](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-reservation) lands were to be added to the territory as the reservations were dissolved through allotment to individual tribal members under the General Allotment (Dawes) Act of 1887.[9](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SE024)\n\nUnlike the usual pattern of westward expansion, in which Congress created a large territory and cut it into smaller states, Oklahoma began small and expanded into the present state, adding parcel after parcel over seventeen years.[9](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SE024) In the period immediately preceding statehood, the territory gained the Otoe-Missouri, Tonkawa, Kaw, and Osage reservations once nearly all of their land had been parceled out to individual tribal members.[5](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=OK085)\n\n## The path to statehood\n\nTerritorial residents were split between single statehood, combining the two territories, and double statehood, with each territory admitted separately; numerous statehood conventions were held between 1891 and 1905.[11](https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/lfp_014/) Although the Oklahoma and Indian Territories had sufficient population to be admitted as separate states, Congress insisted on a single, combined state. Delegates from both territories met in Oklahoma City for a joint statehood convention beginning January 20, 1906, and drafted a petition to Congress presented on March 7, 1906.[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma)\n\nThe statehood bill, H.R. 12707, as originally introduced also included the admission of [New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-mexico) and Arizona as one state. On March 9, 1906, the Senate voted to admit Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as one state and struck all references to New Mexico and Arizona; Speaker Joseph Cannon resisted the Senate's amendments until the final act, passed June 16, 1906, enabled the people of the two territories to form a state constitution and government and be admitted on equal footing with the existing states.[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma)\n\nOn September 17, 1907, the people of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories voted favorably on statehood. The certified vote was delivered to President Theodore Roosevelt, who issued Presidential Proclamation 780 on November 16, 1907, admitting Oklahoma as the forty-sixth state. In his annual message of December 3, 1907, Roosevelt told Congress that Oklahoma had become a state \"standing on full equity with her elder sisters, and her future is assured by her great natural resources.\"[1](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma)\n\n## Geography and climate\n\nOklahoma is a diverse state in its ecology, geology, hydrology, and rainfall.[12](https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/deq/documents/water-division/2024_Integrated-Report.pdf) Almost all of its usable surface water comes from precipitation falling within the state's borders. In 1957, Kiamichi Tower in southeastern Oklahoma logged 84.47 inches of precipitation, the highest yearly total ever measured at an official reporting station.[7](https://www.ou.edu/ocs/oklahoma-climate) [Population density](https://www.edgepedia.org/population-density) was 57.7 persons per square mile in 2020.[2](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/OK)\n\n## Population and economy today\n\nThe 2020 census counted 3,959,353 residents, up from 3,751,351 in 2010; the July 1, 2025 estimate is 4,123,288, a 4.1 percent increase over the 2020 base. American Indian and Alaska Native alone make up 9.4 percent of the population, and 14.0 percent is Hispanic or Latino. Median household income is $65,039 (2020–2024, in 2024 dollars), and 14.9 percent of persons are in poverty.[2](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/OK)\n\nTribal nations contribute substantially to the state's economy, collectively accounting for an estimated 8 percent of state GDP and more than 54,000 jobs in tribal government and tribally owned businesses as of 2019.[6](https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/constraining-the-choice-set-oklahomas-limited-approach-to-building-economic-resilience/) After statehood, the economy periodically boomed and contracted under the combined forces of agriculture, oil, industry, and urban growth.[13](https://www.okhistory.org/pdf/ohs-histcontext.pdf)\n\n**Education and health rankings.** A 2026 [University of Oklahoma](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-oklahoma) study of three decades of National Assessment of Educational Progress data found that Oklahoma ranks 48th nationally and last among its regional peers, after a long decline from around the national average in the 1990s.[14](https://ou.edu/content/dam/education/centers-and-partnerships/education-policy/fall-to-48th-11Feb2026.pdf) On NAEP reading tests in 2024, only 23 percent of Oklahoma fourth-grade students were proficient or advanced.[15](https://ocpathink.org/post/independent-journalism/oklahoma-school-spending-and-staffing-up-but-act-scores-fall) The bipartisan State of the Nation Project reports Oklahoma ranking lower on [Environment](https://www.edgepedia.org/environment) (45), [Education](https://www.edgepedia.org/education) (45), and Physical Health (47) among the states, while ranking higher on Work and Labor Force (31), Children and Families (31), and Trust (32).[16](https://stateofnation.org/oklahoma/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Oklahoma Statehood, November 16, 1907, National Archives, Center for Legislative Archives](https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma)\n2. [U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Oklahoma](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/OK)\n3. [Today in History: April 22, the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/a2f8b02c647920b3686ddff9223ca66e)\n4. [Statehood Movement, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=ST025)\n5. [Oklahoma Territory, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=OK085)\n6. [Constraining the Choice Set: Oklahoma's Limited Approach to Building Economic Resilience, Resources for the Future](https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/constraining-the-choice-set-oklahomas-limited-approach-to-building-economic-resilience/)\n7. [Oklahoma Climate, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, University of Oklahoma](https://www.ou.edu/ocs/oklahoma-climate)\n8. [Westward Expansion, 1803–1861, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=WE021)\n9. [Settlement Patterns, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture](https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SE024)\n10. [Oklahoma's History, Oklahoma State Government Publications, Digital Prairie](https://digitalprairie.ok.gov/digital/api/collection/stgovpub/id/289014/download)\n11. [Oklahoma Statehood Bill, U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives](https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/lfp_014/)\n12. [The State of Oklahoma, 2024 Integrated Report, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality](https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/deq/documents/water-division/2024_Integrated-Report.pdf)\n13. [Historic Context Review, Oklahoma Historical Society](https://www.okhistory.org/pdf/ohs-histcontext.pdf)\n14. [The Fall to 48th: Documenting Oklahoma's Educational Decline, Oklahoma Center for Education Policy, University of Oklahoma](https://ou.edu/content/dam/education/centers-and-partnerships/education-policy/fall-to-48th-11Feb2026.pdf)\n15. [Oklahoma school spending and staffing up, but ACT scores fall, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs](https://ocpathink.org/post/independent-journalism/oklahoma-school-spending-and-staffing-up-but-act-scores-fall)\n16. [How is Oklahoma doing as a state?, State of the Nation Project](https://stateofnation.org/oklahoma/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Administrative and cadastral territories › First-order subdivisions › Provinces of the Americas › Titles M to Z*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Oklahoma\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Oklahoma](https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma](https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Oklahoma\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Oklahoma, the 46th U.S. state, was formed by merging Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory after the 1889 land runs; capital area Oklahoma City, population about 4.1 million." }