Stephens County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 42,848. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Duncan. The county was created at statehood, partly from the Chickasaw Nation in

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

and partly from Comanche County in

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

. It was named for Texas politician John Hall Stephens.Wilson, Linda D. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Stephens County."
Retrieved September 21, 2013. Stephens County comprises the Duncan, OK micropolitan statistical area.

History

Stephens County was created at statehood from portions of both Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. About two-thirds of the area came from

Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation Pickens County was a political subdivision of the Chickasaw Nation in the Indian Territory from 1855, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state in 1907. The county was one of four that comprised the Chickasaw Nation. Following statehood, its ter ...

, in the Indian Territory,Charles Goins, ''Historical Atlas of Oklahoma'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), plate 105. and the western third came from Comanche County, Oklahoma Territory. The town of Duncan was designated as the county seat. County offices were located in rented facilities in Duncan until the first courthouse was built in 1921. That building was replaced by a new facility in 1967. Drilling for oil and gas began about 1910. The first production well did not come in until 1918. Production support activities soon followed. Erle P. Halliburton founded the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company in Duncan. The company has since grown into a

multinational corporation A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

with headquarters in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which (2.4%) are covered by water. It lies within the Red Bed plains. Although no major river is in the county, some creeks provide drainage. Wildhorse Creek in the eastern part flows into the

Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the U.S. states of Texas and Oklahoma. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River of the South, Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geogra ...

. Beaver Creek in the western part of the county flows into the Red River. Lakes in the county include Lake Humphreys, Clear Creek Lake, Duncan Lake, Comanche Lake, and Waurika Lake.

Adjacent counties

* Grady County (north) * Garvin County (northeast) * Carter County (southeast) * Jefferson County (south) * Cotton County (southwest) * Comanche County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 43,182 people, 17,463 households, and 12,590 families wereresiding in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 19,854 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 88.37%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.20%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 4.92% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.44% from other races, and 2.74% from two or more races; 3.96% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. According to the 2020 census, its population was 42,848. In 2000, there were 17,463 households, out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.50% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.90% were non-families. 25.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.91. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.60% under the age of 18, 7.80% from 18 to 24, 25.10% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 18.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.70 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $30,709, and the median income for a family was $36,371. Males had a median income of $30,428 versus $20,055 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $16,357. About 11.60% of families and 14.60% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 19.50% of those under age 18 and 11.90% of those age 65 or over. According to 2017-2021 census estimates, its median household income was $53,470 with a poverty rate of 18.9%.

Politics

Communities

Cities

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

* Duncan (county seat) * Marlow

Towns

* Bray * Central High * Empire City * Velma * Loco

Census-designated place

* Meridian (former) * Sunray

Other unincorporated places

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...

* Corum * Santa Fe