Woods County

Key demographics – Woods County, Oklahoma

Population

• 2020 Census: about 9,000
• 2023 Census estimate: about 8,500 (slight decline since 2020)
• Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Decennial Census; Population Estimates Program (2023)

Age

• Under 18: ~21%
• 18 to 24: ~16%
• 25 to 44: ~26%
• 45 to 64: ~19%
• 65 and over: ~18%
• Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates (2018–2022)

Gender

• Male: ~56–58%
• Female: ~42–44%
• Note: Higher male share influenced by local institutional populations
• Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates (2018–2022)

Race/ethnicity

• White (alone): ~83%
• Black or African American (alone): ~6%
• American Indian/Alaska Native (alone): ~3–4%
• Asian (alone): ~1%
• Two or more races: ~5–6%
• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): ~9–10%
• White alone, not Hispanic: ~75–78%
• Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates (2018–2022)

Households

• Total households: ~3,200
• Persons per household (avg): ~2.3
• Family households: ~60% of households
• Owner-occupied housing rate: ~68–70%
• Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates (2018–2022)

Notes

• Figures are the most recent Census Bureau counts or ACS 5-year estimates available for a small county; ACS values are survey estimates and may not sum exactly to 100% due to rounding.

• County snapshot: Woods County, OK population 8,878 (2020 Census) over 1,286 sq mi → 6.9 people/sq mi. Alva (≈4,945 residents) anchors most fixed-network access.
• Estimated email users: ~7,300 residents (≈82% of total), modeled from Pew U.S. adoption rates applied to the county’s age mix.
• Age distribution of email users:
  • 13–17: ≈5%
  • 18–34: ≈32% (boosted by Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva)
  • 35–64: ≈46%
  • 65+: ≈17%
• Gender split among email users: ≈50% female, ≈50% male, mirroring county demographics.
• Digital access and usage:
  • Households with a broadband subscription: ≈82% (ACS-style county peers; fixed plus cellular).
  • No home internet: ≈12%.
  • Smartphone-only internet households: ≈9%—email is frequently accessed via mobile.
  • Daily email checking among users: ~70–75% (national rural benchmark), with heavier usage in working-age adults and college students; lighter but steady growth among 65+.
• Connectivity realities:
  • Strongest fixed broadband availability in and around Alva; service quality drops across low-density ranchland, increasing reliance on fixed wireless and satellite for outlying homes.
  • Low population density and long last-mile runs raise deployment costs, shaping adoption and speeds, but recent expansions have improved reliability on primary corridors.

Mobile phone usage in Woods County, Oklahoma – 2025 snapshot

Baseline

• Population context: small, rural county centered on Alva, with roughly 8.6–8.7 thousand residents and low population density. A local university (Northwestern Oklahoma State University) increases the share of 18–24-year-olds compared with many rural Oklahoma counties.

User estimates

• Estimated smartphone users (age 13+): ≈6,100 (about 70–72% of total population).
  • Calculation basis: applying recent U.S. ownership rates by age (Pew Research Center) to a typical rural age mix for Woods County:
    • 13–17 (~6% of population): ~95% smartphone adoption → ≈500 users
    • 18–24 (~10%): ~96% → ≈830 users
    • 25–64 (~48%): ~90% → ≈3,740 users
    • 65+ (~20%): ~61% → ≈1,050 users
• Adults with any mobile phone (smartphone or basic): ≈95% of adults, implying ~6,400 adult mobile users in the county.
• Households primarily relying on mobile data (smartphone or hotspot as main internet): ≈700 households (order of 19–20% of roughly 3,600 households). This is elevated for a rural county with a university presence and patchy fixed broadband in outlying areas.

Demographic patterns

• Age
  • 18–24: Very high smartphone and app-centric usage (text, social, streaming). This cohort’s size is slightly above the state average share for rural areas due to the university, lifting total county smartphone usage.
  • 25–64: Near-ubiquitous mobile phone ownership; smartphone penetration around 9 in 10. Heavy use for work coordination in agriculture, oilfield services, logistics, and education.
  • 65+: Meaningfully lower smartphone adoption (~60%); more frequent reliance on voice/SMS and simpler devices. This age group drives a larger digital gap than in metro Oklahoma counties.
• Income and housing
  • Lower-income and renter households (including students) are more likely to be mobile-only for home internet. Prepaid plans and hotspot use are common among these groups.
• Race/ethnicity
  • Woods County is less diverse than the Oklahoma average; usage differences by race are smaller than differences by age and income. Where budgets are tighter, prepaid and mobile-only patterns are more prevalent.

Digital infrastructure and performance

• Networks present: AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon operate in the county.
• Technology footprint
  • 4G LTE: Covers population centers (Alva, Waynoka, Freedom) and primary corridors; coverage thins in sparsely populated sections between highways and along section roads.
  • 5G: Low-band 5G is present in and around towns and along major routes (e.g., US‑64), improving coverage and consistency. Mid-band 5G capacity is notably more limited than in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and other urban corridors, so real-world 5G speeds outside town are often similar to good LTE.
• Typical real-world speeds
  • In-town: 5G low-band and strong LTE commonly deliver 40–120 Mbps down, with higher peaks where mid-band is available.
  • Out-of-town: LTE in the 5–25 Mbps range is common; performance drops at the edges of sectors and indoors in metal or masonry buildings.
• Backhaul
  • Towers serving towns and highways are generally fiber-fed; some remote sites still rely on microwave backhaul, which constrains peak capacity compared with urban Oklahoma.
• Indoor coverage
  • Older brick and metal buildings (downtown Alva, farm structures) can attenuate signals; Wi‑Fi calling, external antennas, or boosters are often used.
• Public and anchor connectivity
  • The university campus, schools, and libraries provide robust Wi‑Fi that offloads student and resident mobile traffic. This meaningfully supplements mobile service in town.

How Woods County differs from the Oklahoma statewide picture

• Adoption level: Overall adult smartphone adoption is a few points lower than the statewide average because the state’s urban counties push near‑universal adoption. However, the local 18–24 cohort’s usage is on par with or higher than the state average, lifting total county usage relative to many rural peers.
• Mobile-only reliance: Higher share of households that rely primarily on mobile data than the state average, driven by student renters and more limited fixed-broadband options outside town limits.
• 5G capacity: Coverage exists, but mid-band 5G capacity is less prevalent than in metro areas, so the step-up in speeds versus LTE is smaller and more variable in the county.
• Coverage pattern: Larger cell sectors and fewer sites per square mile than urban Oklahoma produce more pronounced speed and indoor coverage variability, especially on the fringes between towns.
• Use cases: A higher share of agriculture, energy, and logistics users means more machine-to-machine, telematics, and hotspot use in fields and on rural roads than in urban counties.

Key takeaways

• Roughly 6,100 residents are active smartphone users, concentrated in town centers and among students and working-age adults.
• About one in five households likely depend primarily on mobile connections for home internet.
• All three national carriers serve the county; 5G is present but capacity-focused mid-band deployments are limited compared with state urban corridors.
• Compared with Oklahoma overall, Woods County shows stronger mobile-only reliance and more variable speeds/coverage, with a youthful university-driven segment that is highly mobile-first despite the county’s largely rural profile.

Woods County, Oklahoma — social media snapshot (2024, modeled from the latest Pew Research Center social media adoption rates applied to the county’s age mix from recent ACS data)

User stats

• Adult population (18+): ≈6,900
• Adults using at least one social platform: ≈78% → ≈5,400 users

Most-used platforms among adults (share of adults using each)

• YouTube: 83%
• Facebook: 68%
• Instagram: 50%
• TikTok: 33%
• Pinterest: 35%
• LinkedIn: 30%
• Snapchat: 27%
• WhatsApp: 26%
• X (Twitter): 22%
• Reddit: 22%

Age-group usage (share using any social platform)

• 18–29: 95% (heavy on YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok; Instagram/TikTok posting frequent)
• 30–49: 87% (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram; growing TikTok consumption)
• 50–64: 76% (Facebook, YouTube dominant; Pinterest notable among women)
• 65+: 58% (Facebook primary; YouTube for news/how‑to; lower multi‑platform use)

Gender breakdown (usage patterns)

• Any-platform use: Women ≈80%, Men ≈76%
• Skews by platform:
  • More Women: Pinterest (strongly), Facebook (modest), Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok (slight)
  • More Men: YouTube (slight), Reddit (strongly), X (moderate), LinkedIn (slight)
• Practical read: Expect female-heavy engagement on Facebook/Pinterest/Instagram; male-heavy on Reddit/X/YouTube; Snapchat and TikTok lean younger with a slight female tilt

Behavioral trends in Woods County

• Facebook is the community hub: local news and alerts, school and county pages, churches, volunteer groups, and especially Marketplace. Groups and event pages drive most organic reach.
• YouTube is the how‑to and entertainment backbone: farm/ranch and DIY content, equipment repair, local sports and church streams; strong search-driven discovery.
• Younger cohort (high school/NWOSU students) clusters on Instagram Stories/Reels, Snapchat (messaging-first), and TikTok (consumption high; creation concentrated among a minority of power users).
• Short-form video has become the default discovery format for 18–34 (Reels/TikTok/Shorts). Cross-posting identical clips works, but platform-native edits/captions perform better.
• Messaging is fragmented: Facebook Messenger for families/community, Snapchat DMs for 16–24, and SMS for older adults; WhatsApp exists but remains niche outside specific friend/family networks.
• Posting/engagement rhythms: Evenings (7–9 p.m. CT) and weekends peak; severe-weather days and local sports drive spikes. Practical implication: schedule community-facing posts for early evening; use morning slots for how‑to and longer YouTube content.
• Creative that performs: local faces and places, school and sports highlights, weather and road updates, bargains on Marketplace, before/after DIY, livestock/equipment walk‑throughs, and short tips with clear captions.

Notes on methodology

• Figures are 2024 county-level estimates derived by applying Pew Research Center’s latest U.S. adult platform adoption rates (with rural adjustments) to Woods County’s adult population and age structure from recent U.S. Census Bureau/ACS data. These provide the most defensible, decision-ready numbers available given the absence of platform-specific county reporting.