Tulsa

Tulsa carries two origin stories: one of oil wealth, one of its destruction. The Glenn Pool Oil Reserve discovery in 1905 transformed a town of 1,000 into the self-proclaimed Oil Capital of the World by 1912. Rockefeller, Mellon, and Sinclair moved their headquarters here. The Greenwood District—Black Wall Street—flourished alongside the oil boom, built by O.W. Gurley and other African American entrepreneurs who turned segregation into a captive market and created one of the wealthiest Black communities in America. On May 31–June 1, 1921, white mobs destroyed it, killing an estimated 150–300 people and erasing 35 blocks of prosperity in 16 hours.

For decades afterward, Tulsa declined as oil employment shrank and the Greenwood District never fully recovered. The city that had been an engine of wealth became a cautionary tale about commodity dependence and racial violence.

Now Tulsa is attempting resurrection through remote work. The Tulsa Remote program offers $10,000 to workers who relocate and work remotely from the city. The initiative explicitly invokes Black Wall Street's entrepreneurial spirit—an attempt to rebuild through attraction rather than extraction. It's working: Tulsa had the biggest gain in annual job growth among large metros in Milken Institute's 2025 ranking. Oklahoma reversed a decade of brain drain, adding 10,000+ college graduates in 2021–22. Most new residents come from California and Texas.

The economy has diversified beyond oil into finance, aviation, telecommunications, and technology. Build in Tulsa specifically targets minority entrepreneurs who have historically been denied resources. U.S. News ranks Tulsa among the top 25 best and most affordable places to live. By 2026, Tulsa will test whether a city can consciously construct the conditions for the creativity it once accidentally fostered—and destroyed—a century ago.