Oklahoma City's Plan to Attract and Retain Millennials

"The new face of Oklahoma City is young, well-educated and reinventing the American Dream," according to an article by Ben Felder.

After introducing some of the data that supports the narrative about the economic benefits of millennials, Felder goes on to describe Oklahoma City's efforts to attract millennials, a goal for which "OKC competes with Austin, Texas; New York; and Denver to attract millennials. It also will compete with Edmond, Yukon and Piedmont to keep them as they get older and start families."

As for how Oklahoma City is doing in that regard: "While the millennial share of OKC’s population — 23.9 percent — is less than Dallas, Denver and Austin, its growth rate since 2000 has outpaced every major city in the region….Since 2000, its millennial population grew by 21.3 percent, a larger growth rate than Austin (18.3 percent), Denver (10.8 percent) and Dallas (-5.8 percent)."

The article goes on to detail some of the efforts by the city to attract millennials, including a focus on the city's public school system and other services, like public transit, managed by City Hall.