73503Lawton, Oklahoma

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 73503.

50out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 16% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5489th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured33
Growth3514th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured41
Housing affordability3960th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured74
Climate6633rd of 6,789 ZIP areas measured54
Physical resilience4675th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured38
AccessTop 21% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured98
Economic stabilityTop 14% of 6,742 ZIP areas measured78
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 5.1% and the Opportunity signal places 73503 in the bottom 12%.

126 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 7% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
11,468
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$60,859
Bottom 31% nationally
Density
155/sq mi
74.2 sq mi of land
Median age
21.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Lawton
Oklahoma
Metro area
Lawton, OK
Nearest major airport
LAW
9 mi · Lawton-Fort Sill Rgnl
Median home value

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.1% is lower than 25% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 2.0% over the past year, to 34,169 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$3,384$60,859Bottom 31%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,006$23,318Bottom 10%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.4%Bottom 39%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute10.5 minBottom 2%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher32.2%Top 31%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment34,169Bottom 35%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.8%Bottom 36%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.0%Bottom 17%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force36,016Bottom 35%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation87.7%Top 2%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$52,190Bottom 2%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$42,090Bottom 3%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)1.2%Top 3%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate5.1%Top 25%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202461k50k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $60,859 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Lawton, OK
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons1,370$28,150
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,310$22,430
Cashiers1,120$27,250
Office Clerks, General1,090$35,370
Registered Nurses990$80,570
General and Operations Managers970$77,840

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Lawton, OK, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 17.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
1
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
2019-20 school year
Reading proficiency
2019-20 school year
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
FREEDOM ESLAWTON1,25117.934%37%

66.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Oklahoma’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,228 takes 24% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

Rent as a share of income
24.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,228
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Homeownership rate0.0%Bottom 1%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1491,848Top 43%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$39$1,228Top 34%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income24.2%Top 17%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.0%Bottom 23%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
41/ 100
Ranks 3514 of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
126
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.4
Bottom 32% nationally
Year over year
−7%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Lawton, OK, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 97°F and January a low of 27°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 27.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and about 7 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LAWTON MUNI AP, 9.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index77.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation27.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low27°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high97°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10072024 calendar year
Median air quality index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
77
90th percentile index
Days above 100
7
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

38 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave.

Strong windElevated
Ice stormElevated
TornadoElevated
HailElevated
WildfireModerate
Cold waveModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Inland floodingModerate
DroughtModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, heat wave, landslide, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Comanche County records 5.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.6 per 100,000 residents in Comanche County.

Homicide
5.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Comanche County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 73503 rather than 73503 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Lawton-Fort Sill RgnlLAW9 mi8,599 ft
Infinity One Oklahoma SpaceportCSM61 mi13,503 ft
OKC Will Rogers IntlOKC70 mi9,802 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

73503 vs Lawton

How this ZIP area compares with Lawton as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

73503
Lawton
Median household income
$60,859
vs
$54,433
Per capita income
$23,318
vs
$28,349
Population density
155/sq mi
vs
1,109/sq mi
Median gross rent
$1,228
vs
$967
Homeownership rate
0.0%
vs
44.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
32.2%
vs
22.5%
Poverty rate
8.4%
vs
21.1%
Median age
21.7
vs
32.3

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.