Facts at a Glance

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2003 Oklahoma KIDS COUNT Factbook

A State and County Focus on the 2000 Census Data

Facts at a Glance

The 2003 edition of the Oklahoma KIDS COUNT Factbook uses the latest decennial census data (Census 2000) to provide the most comprehensive state and county demographic information available about Oklahoma’s children. It will provide a reference useful to Oklahoma policy makers and advocates for the next several years.

Children as Individuals

• Population
Oklahoma’s child population has increased substantially to almost nine hundred thousand (892,360) children. One in four (25.9%) Oklahomans is under the age of eighteen. Boys slightly outnumber girls (51.3% to 48.7%).

• Race
Composing about two-thirds (67.6%) of Oklahoma’s children, the largest single race in Oklahoma remains White. The largest single non-White race of Oklahoma children is American Indian (11.0%). The fastest growing segment of Oklahoma’s young population is Hispanic or Latino children which may be of any race (7.9%).

• Poverty
One in every five (19.6%) Oklahoma children, more than one hundred seventy thousand (171,929), lives in poverty. Oklahoma’s poverty rate for children is higher than that for all children in the United States (16.6%), placing Oklahoma near the bottom (41st) of the national rankings.

• Early Childhood
High quality early childhood care and education experiences are vital to a child’s future. 45.5% of three and four year old children in Oklahoma attend programs such as nursery school, preschool or kindergarten, compared to 49.3% nationally. Oklahoma ranks 28th in the nation for number of children attending such programs.

• Disabilities
In Oklahoma, more than thirty-five thousand (35,033) children from the age of five through fifteen have a disability. Currently, a small percentage (5.8%) of all five through fifteen year old children in the United States have one or more disabilities. Oklahoma ranks 38th in the nation with 6.4% of five through fifteen year old children having at least one disability.

• Idle Teens
Those teens who spend their young adult years unemployed and out of school have a hard time finding and keeping a job later in life. Almost one in ten (9.3%) Oklahoma youth from the ages of sixteen through nineteen are not engaged in either work or school, resulting in nearly twenty thousand (19,758) idle youth.

Children in Their Families

• Median Family Income
Family income is lower for Oklahoma families with children ($38,579) than it is for those without ($42,414). Oklahoma’s median annual income of $38,579 for families with children is almost ten thousand dollars below the median income for the United States ($48,196).

• Family Composition
Half of Oklahoma’s children will spend some part of their childhood living with a single parent. More than one in four (119,914, or 27.1%) Oklahoma families with children are headed by a single parent, placing Oklahoma near the middle (30th) of all states. More than three-quarters (75.8%) of Oklahoma’s single parent households with children are headed by females.

• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
An Oklahoma grandparent is raising their own grandchild in almost forty thousand (39,279) Oklahoma households. Most (52.9%) of these households find the grandparent having assumed primary responsibility for their grandchild for three years of longer.

Children in Their Neighborhoods

Children are impacted by their surroundings...the families, neighborhoods and communities in which they live. Ambitions, possibilities and limitations are often established for young people through their life experiences in their neighborhoods. Children look up to and follow the people they know, neighbors providing role models for their future.

• Children Living in Neighborhoods With High Child Poverty Rates
Across the state, more than one of every five children (21.1%) lives in a neighborhood in which the rate of poverty among the neighborhood children is very high (29.5%), one and a half times higher than the state rate (19.6%).

• Children Living in Neighborhoods With High Rates of Single Parent Families With Children Headed By Females
Almost one of every six Oklahoma children (17.5%) lives where the proportion of single parent families headed by females is excessive (above 30.9%), one and a half times higher than the state rate (20.6%).

• Children Living in Neighborhoods With High Rates of High School Dropouts
Nearly one of every four children (22.4%) lives in an Oklahoma neighborhood where the high school drop out rate is extreme (above 15.0%), one and one-half times higher than the state average (10.0%).

• Children Living in Neighborhoods With High Rates of Males Not in the Labor Force
One of every fifteen Oklahoma children (6.7%) lives where the proportion of non-working males is noticeably high (above 32.9%), one and a half times higher than the state rate (21.9%).

• Disadvantaged Neighborhood Index – County Rankings
Taken together, the four previous factors provide a comprehensive picture for each county in Oklahoma of the neighborhoods in which children live.

The 2003 Oklahoma KIDS COUNT Factbook takes the individual county’s rank on each of the four factors and combines them into a “Disadvantaged Neighborhood Index” in which the higher the number, the more disadvantaged the neighborhoods in which larger proportions of their children live. Fifteen Oklahoma counties (Beaver, Cimarron, Cotton, Dewey, Ellis, Grant, Harper, Kingfisher, Lincoln, Love, Murray, Noble, Nowata, Roger Mills, and Washita) have a “Disadvantaged Neighborhood Index” of “0” demonstrating that none of their children live in the kinds of neighborhoods discussed above. The ten worst counties (Caddo, Choctaw, Comanche, McCurtain, McIntosh, Muskogee, Oklahoma, Okmulgee, Ottawa, and Tulsa) generated “Disadvantaged Neighborhood Indexes” from 222 to 296, with a large proportion of children living in very disadvantaged neighborhoods.