Adair County, Oklahoma | |
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 Location within the U.S. state ofOklahoma | |
 Oklahoma's location within theU.S. | |
| Coordinates:35°53′N94°40′W / 35.88°N 94.66°W /35.88; -94.66 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Oklahoma |
| Founded | July 16, 1907 |
| Named after | TheAdair family of theCherokee tribe. |
| Seat | Stilwell |
| Largest city | Stilwell |
| Area | |
• Total | 577 sq mi (1,490 km2) |
| • Land | 573 sq mi (1,480 km2) |
| • Water | 3.6 sq mi (9.3 km2) 0.6% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 19,495 |
| • Density | 34.0/sq mi (13.1/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| Congressional district | 2nd |
Adair County is acounty located in theU.S. state ofOklahoma. As of the2020 census, the population was 19,495.[1] Itscounty seat isStilwell.[2] Adair County was named after theAdair family of theCherokee tribe.[3] One source says that the county was specifically named for Watt Adair, one of the first Cherokees to settle in the area.[4] Adair County is part of the Cherokee Nation reservation.
The county was created in 1906 from theGoingsnake and Flint districts of theCherokee Nation.[5] There was a decade-long struggle over what town would become the county seat betweenStilwell andWestville.[6] When the county was formed, Westville was identified as the county seat, due partly to its location at the intersection of two major railroads: theKansas City Southern Railway and theSt. Louis – San Francisco Railway.[7] The county seat was moved to Stilwell in 1910.[8]
During theGreat Depression andWorld War II, strawberries became a major crop in Adair County. In 1948, the first Stilwell Strawberry Festival was organized. The 2002 festival saw some 40,000 people in attendance.[6]
The 1910 census counted 10,535 residents.[5] By 1990, it was up to 18,421.[5]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 577 square miles (1,490 km2), of which 573 square miles (1,480 km2) is land and 3.6 square miles (9.3 km2) (0.6%) is water.[9]
The county is part of the Ozark plateau uplift, the tree-covered foothills of the Boston Mountains.[5] North and central Adair County are drained by theIllinois River and three creeks.[5] Two more creeks lie nearStilwell.[5]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910 | 10,535 | — | |
| 1920 | 13,703 | 30.1% | |
| 1930 | 14,756 | 7.7% | |
| 1940 | 15,755 | 6.8% | |
| 1950 | 14,918 | −5.3% | |
| 1960 | 13,112 | −12.1% | |
| 1970 | 15,141 | 15.5% | |
| 1980 | 18,575 | 22.7% | |
| 1990 | 18,421 | −0.8% | |
| 2000 | 21,038 | 14.2% | |
| 2010 | 22,683 | 7.8% | |
| 2020 | 19,495 | −14.1% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[10] 1790-1960[11] 1900-1990[12] 1990-2000[13] 2010[14] | |||
| Race(NH = Non-Hispanic) | 2020[15] | 2010[16] | 2000[17] | 1990[18] | 1980[19] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 38.3% (7,464) | 42.1% (9,558) | 47.7% (10,035) | 55.2% (10,171) | 65.9% (12,235) |
| Black alone (NH) | 0.2% (40) | 0.2% (53) | 0.2% (33) | 0% (4) | 0% (0) |
| American Indian alone (NH) | 42.3% (8,240) | 42% (9,528) | 41.8% (8,793) | 43.3% (7,985) | 33% (6,128) |
| Asian alone (NH) | 0.8% (162) | 0.6% (129) | 0.1% (18) | 0.1% (12) | 0.2% (35) |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 0.1% (12) | 0% (1) | 0% (5) | ||
| Other race alone (NH) | 0.1% (12) | 0% (7) | 0% (4) | 0% (4) | 0% (4) |
| Multiracial (NH) | 11.9% (2,313) | 9.7% (2,210) | 7.1% (1,493) | — | — |
| Hispanic/Latino (any race) | 6.4% (1,252) | 5.3% (1,197) | 3.1% (657) | 1.3% (245) | 0.9% (173) |
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 19,495. Of the residents, 26.0% were under the age of 18 and 17.2% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 39.4 years. For every 100 females there were 97.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 95.4 males.[20][21]
The racial makeup of the county was 39.2%White, 0.2%Black or African American, 44.0%American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%Asian, 2.3% from some other race, and 13.4% fromtwo or more races.Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 6.4% of the population.[21]
There were 7,076 households in the county, of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 26.6% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[20]
There were 8,059 housing units, of which 12.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 71.0% were owner-occupied and 29.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.7%.[20]
In 2020, the most commonly reported ancestries were Cherokee (33.5%), Cherokee Nation (12.8%), English (10.2%), Irish (7.4%), German (6.2%), and Mexican (5.3%).[22]
As of thecensus[23] of 2010, Adair County had a small population relative to its surrounding counties, with only 21,038 people, a large percentage of them, 43.3 percent,Native American. The remainder of the population was 43 percentwhite, 10.5 percent of more than one race, and 5.3 percentHispanic orLatino. Less than 1 percent of the population was eitherBlack orAfrican American,Asian, orPacific Islander, and 2.3 percent were identified asother. This makes it the onlymajority-minority county in Oklahoma. Adair county had a higher percentage of Native Americans (American Indians) in its population than any other Oklahoma county.[24]
The median age of the population was 36.2 years and two-thirds of the county's population were either under the age of 18 (28 percent) or between the ages of 25 and 44 (24.8 percent). Of the remaining population, 25.9 percent were ages 45 to 64, 12.9 percent were 65 years of age or older, and 13.2 percent were ages 18 to 24. For every 100 females there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.3 males.
There were a total of 8,156 households and 5,982 families in the county in 2010. There were 9,142 housing units. Of the 8,156 households, 31.4 percent included children under the age of 18 and slightly more than half (52.7 percent) includedmarried couples living together. 26.7 percent were non-family, 14.2 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.8 percent contained a single individual of 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.25.
The median income for a household in the county was $27,258, and the median income for a family was $32,930. Males had a median income of $28,370 versus $23,384 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $13,560. About 25.3 percent of families and 27.8 percent of the population were below thepoverty line, including 36.8 percent of those under age 18 and 18.7 percent of those age 65 or over.
| Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of March 28, 2024[25] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Number of Voters | Percentage | |||
| Democratic | 3,406 | 31.07% | |||
| Republican | 5,885 | 53.68% | |||
| Others | 1,672 | 15.25% | |||
| Total | 10,963 | 100% | |||
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1908 | 782 | 47.86% | 825 | 50.49% | 27 | 1.65% |
| 1912 | 850 | 44.18% | 916 | 47.61% | 158 | 8.21% |
| 1916 | 1,010 | 41.72% | 1,190 | 49.15% | 221 | 9.13% |
| 1920 | 2,181 | 57.99% | 1,559 | 41.45% | 21 | 0.56% |
| 1924 | 2,317 | 51.63% | 1,942 | 43.27% | 229 | 5.10% |
| 1928 | 2,867 | 59.35% | 1,944 | 40.24% | 20 | 0.41% |
| 1932 | 1,941 | 33.74% | 3,812 | 66.26% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1936 | 2,699 | 45.19% | 3,257 | 54.54% | 16 | 0.27% |
| 1940 | 3,275 | 50.51% | 3,203 | 49.40% | 6 | 0.09% |
| 1944 | 2,792 | 50.18% | 2,760 | 49.60% | 12 | 0.22% |
| 1948 | 2,407 | 43.97% | 3,067 | 56.03% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1952 | 3,037 | 52.71% | 2,725 | 47.29% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 3,152 | 56.59% | 2,418 | 43.41% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 3,655 | 65.76% | 1,903 | 34.24% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1964 | 2,859 | 48.77% | 3,003 | 51.23% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 2,877 | 53.02% | 1,549 | 28.55% | 1,000 | 18.43% |
| 1972 | 4,720 | 73.12% | 1,601 | 24.80% | 134 | 2.08% |
| 1976 | 3,013 | 48.14% | 3,183 | 50.85% | 63 | 1.01% |
| 1980 | 3,429 | 54.08% | 2,761 | 43.54% | 151 | 2.38% |
| 1984 | 4,423 | 65.57% | 2,266 | 33.60% | 56 | 0.83% |
| 1988 | 3,558 | 57.02% | 2,624 | 42.05% | 58 | 0.93% |
| 1992 | 2,994 | 45.48% | 2,645 | 40.18% | 944 | 14.34% |
| 1996 | 2,956 | 45.33% | 2,792 | 42.82% | 773 | 11.85% |
| 2000 | 3,503 | 58.61% | 2,361 | 39.50% | 113 | 1.89% |
| 2004 | 4,971 | 65.99% | 2,562 | 34.01% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2008 | 4,638 | 69.33% | 2,052 | 30.67% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2012 | 4,381 | 67.32% | 2,127 | 32.68% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2016 | 4,787 | 73.50% | 1,382 | 21.22% | 344 | 5.28% |
| 2020 | 5,585 | 78.57% | 1,387 | 19.51% | 136 | 1.91% |
| 2024 | 5,860 | 80.76% | 1,289 | 17.76% | 107 | 1.47% |
Although most Native American counties tend to skew Democratic, theCherokee Nation - which Adair County is a part of - has tended to be deeply Republican at the federal level for most its existence, though Southern Democrats have occasionally taken it in strong election years such as 1964 and 1976. No Democrat has won Adair County sinceJimmy Carter in1976.
The county is home to food processing and canning industries; poultry farms; cattle ranches; horse breeders; dog breeders, and strawberry fields.[27]
The following sites in Adair County are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places:
K-12 school districts include:[28]
Elementary school districts include:[28]
In 2010 the Bell Public School school district ceased operations, with area taken by the Belfonte and Stilwell school districts.[29]
Places adjacent to Adair County, Oklahoma | |
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Municipalities and communities ofAdair County, Oklahoma,United States | ||
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| City |  | |
| Towns | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Other communities | ||
| Indian reservation | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
35°53′N94°40′W / 35.88°N 94.66°W /35.88; -94.66
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| National | |
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