Cities › OK
Oklahoma City
Mayor David Holt · Republican · in office since April 10, 2018
The Executive Summary
Mayor David Holt (R) has led Oklahoma City since April 2018; on economic outcomes — the only thing this site scores for mayors — Oklahoma City ranks No. 12 of 21 big cities. On Holt's watch, unemployment fell 6.3% → 3.2% across 2020–2025. Crime, housing and schools are not in this score, and Oklahoma City runs day-to-day through a city manager, so the record is shared — association, not causation.
| Unemployment 3.2% (2025) | +0.58σ · -11.35%/yr vs peers -11.76%/yr · 2020–2025 (6 pts) |
| Median household income $70,040 (2024 · constant 2024 $) | −0.42σ · +0.75%/yr vs peers +1.07%/yr · 2020–2024 (4 pts) |
| Poverty rate 15.3% (2024) | −0.15σ · -0.9%/yr vs peers -2.03%/yr · 2020–2024 (4 pts) |
| Government form | Council-manager |
Oklahoma City uses a council-manager government, so day-to-day administration runs through an unelected city manager. Read this as the city's record, which the mayor shares.
Sources: unemployment — BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics · median household income — Census ACS 1-year, CPI-U deflated · poverty rate — Census ACS 1-year (B17001). Unemployment runs through 2025; income and poverty through 2024. The 2025 unemployment point is an eleven-month average — October 2025 was never collected during the federal shutdown — and it is included and flagged here under the same rule the state pages apply to the same statistic (one statistic, one rulebook, as of v2.6; through v2.5 city pages excluded it instead, and the changelog says so).
Scored on economic outcomes only — unemployment, real median income and poverty. Crime, housing and health are not yet included, so this is a narrower measure than a governor’s. Two denominators. The rank is out of 21 — the mayors with enough scored years to rank. 21 of 50 cities are scored, 0 of those are early reads left unranked, and 29 mayors are not yet scorable. Each σ is measured against all 49 other cities. No 2020 point exists for income or poverty — the Census Bureau never released standard ACS 1-year estimates for 2020, and the gap is not interpolated. That is why a window spanning 2020 carries one point fewer than its span. Government form follows standard reference classifications and was not verified city by city. Methodology
The Rundown
No. 12 of 21 big-city mayors — on economics, and only economics.
Unemployment. Among the best of the 50 largest cities. 6.3% → 3.2% across 2020–2025.
Poverty rate. About the middle of the pack. 15.8% → 15.3% across 2021–2024.
Median household income. Worse than the typical big city. $68,549 → $70,040 across 2021–2024.
How this is scored: 60% is where Oklahoma City stands against the other 49 largest cities, 40% is which way it moved on Mayor Holt's watch — the same rule governors get. It covers 3 economic outcomes only: crime, housing and schools are not in this grade, so it is narrower than a governor's. Oklahoma City also runs day-to-day through an unelected city manager, so this record is shared, not the mayor's alone.
Oklahoma City sits in OK, whose governor Kevin Stitt holds a scored statewide record (No. 11 of 29). State outcomes are not the mayor’s grade — a city is not a state — but they’re the nearest verified context today.