LIL SISTER DOING OK!

By Steve Fair

For years, Lawton, Oklahoma was the little sister to Wichita Falls, Texas. That is rapidly changing. According to the 2010 census, Lawton grew 4.4% in the past decade to a population of 98,867. During the same period, Wichita Falls gained just 365 residents to a population of 104,553.

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Wichita County, Texas actually lost population the last decade. Down -4.3% since 2000, the counties population now stands at 125,894. Meanwhile, Comanche County, Oklahoma grew +7.9% during the same period to a population of 124,098. Comanche County has more land mass- 1084 square miles to Wichita County’s 633 square miles, but the two counties' population is almost identical.

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The similarities between the two cities are striking- both have major military installations- Wichita Falls has Sheppard AFB, Lawton has Fort Sill. Both rely heavily on those installations to provide jobs. According to the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce, Sheppard provides over 12,000 jobs. The Lawton COC says Fort Sill provides about 5,000 to their community. Both have similar demographics and climate. The cost of living is about the same in both cities- around 15% less than the national average. Why has Lawton grown in the past decade and Wichita Falls remained flat in population growth?

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First, Lawton took a major step to become less dependent on the ever changing military with the addition of the Goodyear Plant in 1979. It has taken a while for ‘lil sis’ to catch up, but the diversity strategy has worked. Lawton has added several other manufacturing plants and defense contractor offices to their private sector employers list, while Wichita Falls has become increasingly dependent on public sector jobs. The top seven employers listed on the chamber’s web site are taxpayer funded jobs- schools/county hospitals/city employees.

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Second, the 2005 BRAC Commission was not as kind to Sheppard as they were to Fort Sill. The Commission relocated the 882^nd Training Group from Sheppard to Fort Sam Houston. The final number of personnel that were relocated is uncertain, but the move clearly hurt the Wichita Falls area. At the same time, the commission moved the Army Air Defense Artillery School, the 6^th ADA Brigade, and its accompanying equipment (including the MIM-104 Patriot Missile Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Missile defense system) to Fort Sill from Fort Bliss, Texas. The influx of additional personnel to Fort Sill was expected to be about 4,500, though those numbers have not yet materialized.

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Lawton has a ways to go before it can claim domination over her southern neighbor but if current trends continue, when the next census is taken in 2020, Wichita Falls will be the little sister.