Chickasha is “not just a town of 17,000 residents,” Jim Cowan, director of the Economic Development Council, told the City Council recently. “We’re a trade area of more than 120,000 population, and we’re growing.”
Research shows that Chickasha attracts “regular trac” from area communities – even larger cities. The trade area extends from Minco on the north to Duncan on the south, west to Carnegie and east to Dibble. Retail customers from the Blanchard, Tuttle and Newcastle area “are coming our direction,” Cowan said.
At the CEDC, “We’re trying to measure how our economy is doing,” he said – and Placer technology is providing much of the data.
Placer is so are which tracks apps that are open on mobile telephones. It provides data on where people are from, how long they stay at a particular location, etc. “We’ve been using it since 2021,” Cowan said.
During the first nine months of last year, Chickasha had 638,800 “unique” visitors, Placer data showed. Chickasha was the destination last year for 230,000 out-of-market trips (91,000 day trips and 139,000 overnight trips).
Visitors spent $26.1 million in Chickasha in 2025.
US-62 highway carried an average of 13,400 vehicles per day on Choctaw Avenue between 7th and 8th streets in 2024, according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. US-81 highway logs approximately 18,000 vehicles per day, and Interstate 44 carries about 25,000 vehicles daily, research shows.
Last year, the annual Festival of Light holiday event drew 200,000 visitors, the sports complex counted 160,000 visitors, and the Grady County Fairgrounds recorded 100,000 visits. The iconic “leg lamp” statue downtown also remains a major tourist draw.
Last year, Chickasha was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, on CBS Morning News, in the Oklahoma City Journal Record, and in Southwest Ledger, among other news outlets, Cowan noted.
Several new housing additions have been built in Chickasha, are under construction or are in the planning stage.
Chickasha’s McDonald’s and Arby’s fast-food restaurants rank among the top 10 in sales in Oklahoma. New retailers in town included McAlister’s Deli, Starbucks, Chickfil-A, and Scooter’s Coffee, and a Wingstop restaurant is expected to open this year.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Dec. 9 to celebrate the start of construction on five new retail stores – Burlington Coat Factory, Five Below, PetSmart, T.J. Maxx, and Ulta Beauty Supply – that will occupy a building encompassing approximately 73,000 square feet.
City sales tax receipts for Fiscal Year 2025, which ended on June 30, 2025, were “the largest in the history of Chickasha,” Cowan said. In fact, he said, “Since 2020, our sales tax collections have increased every year.”
And the city’s sales tax disbursement for January, which consisted of taxes collected in the last two weeks of November and the first two weeks of December, totaled $1.44 million, “the highest ever in the history of Chickasha,” Cowan said.
“We’re cautiously hopeful that the next sales tax check [from the Oklahoma Tax Commission] is even higher, because it will include receipts from the last two weeks of December, especially the final days of Christmas shopping.”
’25 retail ‘leakage’ was significant On the flip side, though, Chickasha experienced significant retail “leakage” last year, Cowan lamented. “Too often, our residents leave town to get the products they need.”
Those included 265,000 trips to “big box” stores in other cities, 115,000 trips to fast-food restaurants in other towns, 61,000 trips to hardware stores in other communities, plus 54,000 out-of-town trips to warehouse stores and 32,000 out-of-town trips to department stores.
“We don’t want the people who live here to feel they have to go elsewhere to find what they want or need,” Cowan said.
“We’ve made the case for why retail is so important,” he said.
“But so are the trades,” education, and health care.
He pointed to Canadian Valley Technology Center. The state’s CareerTech Department will provide free training for a company.
VTC is “a huge asset” for Chickasha, Cowan said. Chickasha also is home to the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, a four-year liberal arts school, and to Grady Memorial Hospital, the county’s primary hospital.
Cowan also mentioned talking to “a couple of people” who mentioned child care. “We definitely need child care for moms who choose to go back to work after having a baby,” he said. “All of the places we have in Chickasha are full and have a waiting list.” Chickasha Public Schools are opening a facility for their employees, “but we need more.”
Other “unmet demands” in Chickasha last year were building materials and supplies ($9.6 million purchased elsewhere), other general merchandise ($6.4 million), and limited service restaurants ($6.4 million). It also included almost $5 million in groceries that were bought in other towns.
“We don’t want the people who live here to feel they have to go elsewhere to find what they want or need,” Cowan said.
‘We can’t let up’ Gov. Kevin Stitt joined local leaders in Chickasha last June to unveil plans for a new industrial park and power generation initiative – projects that will constitute the largest single private investment in the city’s history.
Developer Chet Hitt envisions construction of an electricity generating plant fueled by natural gas and intended to power a data center on land he bought in the Chickasha Airport Industrial Park.
The financial investment in the combined project might total $3.5 billion or more, Hitt told Southwest Ledger.
Nevertheless, “We can’t let up,” Cowan asserted. “We’re trying to answer the question:
Why Chickasha?”
One way to counter that is advertising. “According to the state Department of Tourism, for every dollar spent advertising Oklahoma, a visitor to this state spends $6,” he said.
“That’s why it’s so important for the EDC to advertise and promote Chickasha.”
Mayor Zach Grayson hit the mark when, during his annual State of the City address, he described Chickasha in three words – thriving, unified, and unstoppable – Cowan said, adding, “Our people are one of the biggest assets we have.”