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Demographics of Rogers County
Affluence Level in Rogers County
A middle-class area roughly in line with national averages across income, home values, education, and employment.
People of Rogers County
Rogers County, Oklahoma, is a predominantly white, suburban-rural hybrid where 69.5% of the 97,235 residents identify as white alone, with a very low foreign-born share of just 1.3%. The county’s identity is shaped by its deep Cherokee Nation roots, a 20th-century oil boom that drew workers from across the Plains, and a modern wave of Tulsa exurbanites seeking lower taxes and larger lots. The population is notably less diverse than the national average, with a Hispanic share of 5.9%, an East/Southeast Asian share of 1.6%, and a Black share of 0.9%, while the Indian subcontinent population sits at just 0.1%.
Settlement & growth (pre-1960)
Before American settlement, the land that is now Rogers County was part of the traditional territory of the Osage Nation, who used the Verdigris River valley for hunting and trade. In the 1830s, under the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokee Nation was forcibly relocated from the Southeast to what became Indian Territory, and the area around present-day Claremore and Chelsea became part of the Cherokee Nation’s Cooweescoowee District. Cherokee families established farms, ferries, and small trading posts along the Verdigris and Caney rivers, and the county’s original population was overwhelmingly Cherokee and mixed-race Cherokee.
After the Civil War, the federal government pressured the Cherokee Nation to allow non-Native settlement, and by the 1880s, white ranchers and farmers began leasing land in what is now Oologah and Foyil. The 1893 Cherokee Outlet Opening and the subsequent Dawes Act (1898–1906) allotted Cherokee communal land to individual tribal citizens and opened the remainder to white homesteaders. This period brought a wave of settlers from Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas—mostly of Scots-Irish and English descent—who established wheat and cotton farms. The town of Claremore was formally platted in 1882 and grew as a railroad stop on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas line.
The discovery of oil in the Glenn Pool field (just south of the county line) in 1905 and the later Cushing and Burbank fields triggered a boom that transformed Rogers County. Claremore became a supply and services hub, and the population surged from 10,000 in 1900 to over 28,000 by 1930. Oil workers arrived from Texas, Kansas, and the Midwest, and small boomtowns like Inola and Catoosa saw rapid construction of boarding houses, saloons, and rail spurs. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl sent a smaller wave of displaced farmers from the Oklahoma Panhandle and Arkansas into the county, but the oil industry kept the local economy afloat through the 1930s.
World War II brought a military presence to nearby Tulsa and the establishment of the Claremore Naval Air Station (now the Claremore Regional Airport), which drew servicemen and civilian workers from across the country. After the war, many of these workers stayed, and the county’s population grew steadily through the 1950s as Claremore and Catoosa expanded with new housing tracts and retail corridors. The completion of U.S. Route 66 through the county’s southern edge and the construction of the Will Rogers Turnpike (I-44) in the 1950s made Rogers County a convenient bedroom community for Tulsa commuters.
Modern era (post-1965)
The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act had a minimal direct effect on Rogers County, as the foreign-born population remains just 1.3%—far below the national average of roughly 14%. Unlike many U.S. counties that saw large-scale immigration from Latin America and Asia after 1965, Rogers County’s demographic change has been driven almost entirely by domestic migration. The most significant shift has been the suburbanization of Tulsa’s white middle class, who moved east along the Broken Arrow Expressway and into Claremore, Owasso, and Collinsville (the latter two partially in Tulsa County but with significant spillover into Rogers County).
The Hispanic population grew from negligible levels in 1990 to 5.9% by 2024, concentrated in Claremore and Catoosa, where workers found jobs in construction, meatpacking, and the oilfield service industry. The East/Southeast Asian population (1.6%) is small but visible in Owasso and Claremore, largely composed of Vietnamese and Korean families who arrived as secondary migrants from larger cities like Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The Black population remains very low at 0.9%, reflecting the county’s historical lack of a significant African American community and the absence of post-1965 Black migration from the Rust Belt. The Indian subcontinent population is 0.1%, essentially negligible.
Suburbanization accelerated after 2000, with Owasso becoming the county’s fastest-growing city as families sought newer schools and larger homes than those available in Tulsa proper. The Cherokee Nation has also reasserted its presence, with tribal government offices and the Cherokee Casino in Catoosa employing hundreds and drawing visitors from across the region. The county’s college-educated share is 25.6%, slightly below the national average of about 33%, reflecting a workforce concentrated in trades, oil and gas, and retail rather than professional services.
The future
Rogers County is projected to continue growing at a moderate pace, driven by Tulsa exurban expansion and the development of the MidAmerica Industrial Park in neighboring Mayes County, which draws workers to the Claremore and Inola areas. The population is likely to remain predominantly white, with the Hispanic share slowly rising toward 8–10% by 2040 as younger Hispanic families settle in Owasso and Claremore. The East/Southeast Asian and Black shares are expected to remain low, as the county lacks the dense ethnic enclaves and urban job base that attract larger immigrant populations.
The Cherokee Nation’s growing economic and political influence—including expanded tribal jurisdiction and investment in health care and education—will continue to shape the county’s identity, particularly in Claremore and Catoosa. The county is becoming slightly more diverse but at a pace far slower than the nation as a whole, and its cultural character will remain rooted in its rural-suburban, oil-and-agriculture heritage. New residents are likely to be families and retirees from the Midwest and Plains states seeking lower housing costs and a slower pace of life.
For someone moving in now, Rogers County offers a stable, low-density environment with a strong Cherokee cultural presence, a modest cost of living, and easy access to Tulsa’s employment base. The population is not becoming dramatically more diverse or urban, and the county’s social and political character is likely to remain conservative and family-oriented for the foreseeable future.
* Values derived from national, state, county, city and local statistics and may differ in a specific area. Last updated: 2026-06-24T21:40:42.000Z
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