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2024 Census data: Oklahoma ranks as 8th poorest state

By: Dave Hamby
September 11, 2025 // Updated: September 12, 2025
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey, released Sept. 11, show that Oklahoma’s poverty rate was 14.9 percent, which means that more than 1 in 7 state residents live in poverty. While the state’s overall poverty rate… Read more More...

Recent Posts

In The Know: Tulsa budget plan will cut 228 jobs, including 66 school crossing guards

By: Gene Perry
May 7, 2014 // Updated: May 7, 2014
In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail or… Read more [More...]

Paying a poverty tax: The high cost of being poor in Oklahoma

By: Camille Landry
May 6, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Camille Landry is a writer, activist, and social justice advocate who lives in Oklahoma City.  This post is part of our “Neglected Oklahoma” series, which tells the stories of Oklahomans in situations where the basic necessities of life are hard… Read more [More...]

In The Know: Energy giants float proposal to extend gross production tax break

By: Gene Perry
// Updated: May 6, 2014
In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail or… Read more [More...]

#revenuefail

By: David Blatt
May 5, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
In mid-April, State Finance Director Preston Doerflinger sent a letter to state agency directors alerting them to “the possibility of a revenue failure declaration for Fiscal Year 2014… following unusually weak General Revenue Fund (GRF) collections in February and March.”… Read more [More...]

In The Know: Moody’s downgrades Kansas’ credit rating, citing sluggish economy & risky tax cuts

By: Gene Perry
// Updated: May 5, 2014
In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail or… Read more [More...]

Weekly Wonk May 4, 2014

By: Carly Putnam
May 4, 2014 // Updated: July 25, 2015
The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.… Read more [More...]

Most full-time minimum wage workers don’t live with their parents

By: Kate Richey
May 2, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Oklahoma made national news in April when it enacted a new law barring cities from establishing a mandatory minimum wage.  Oklahoma is not the only state with a blanket ban on raising the minimum wage; a handful of other states… Read more [More...]

In The Know: Over 69,000 Oklahomans enrolled on Affordable Care Act marketplace

By: Carly Putnam
// Updated: May 2, 2014
In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail or… Read more [More...]

STATEMENT: Lawmakers should reject deal to expand industry tax break

By: Gene Perry
May 1, 2014 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement on reports that state leaders are arranging a deal with oil and gas executives to extend the horizontal drilling tax break to all wells at 2 percent for four years: Expanding this unnecessary… Read more [More...]

Critics of Medicaid expansion aren’t telling the whole story

By: Carly Putnam
// Updated: May 2, 2019
  Opponents of accepting federal funds to expand health coverage in Oklahoma have recently been citing a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a think tank based out of Florida. The report claims that states should refuse federal… Read more [More...]

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