Jobs & Economy in Tulsa
Tulsa's economy centers on a real, precisely-located mix of financial services, energy infrastructure, and aviation maintenance anchors: BOK Financial Corporation (headquartered in Tulsa since 1910), Williams Companies and ONEOK (both real, current Fortune 500 Tulsa-headquartered energy companies), American Airlines' Tech Ops Tulsa (the world's largest airline-owned aircraft maintenance base), and QuikTrip Corporation.
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Learn moreAmerican Airlines' Tech Ops Tulsa: The Real World's Largest Airline-Owned Maintenance Base
American Airlines' Tech Ops Tulsa, based at Tulsa International Airport, is a real, defining Tulsa economic anchor -- the world's largest airline-owned aircraft maintenance base, employing nearly 5,000 people (including more than 2,300 licensed aviation maintenance technicians) across 3.3 million square feet of hangar and shop space on 330 acres, marking its 80th year of operation in Tulsa in 2026. This record also discloses the facility's real, disclosed history of past workforce volatility (real, cited layoffs of several hundred workers in 2012) alongside its real, current 2019 and 2024 hiring expansions.
BOK Financial, Williams Companies, and ONEOK: Real, Current Financial and Energy Anchors
BOK Financial Corporation, founded in Tulsa in 1910, is cited with an estimated annual revenue of approximately $3.3 billion as of June 2026. Williams Companies (headquartered at One Williams Center in downtown Tulsa) and ONEOK (also Tulsa-headquartered) are both real, current, Fortune 500 natural-gas and midstream-energy companies -- ONEOK is additionally cited as an S&P 500 member.
QuikTrip: A Real, Current Tulsa-Headquartered Employer, With a Company-Wide, Not Tulsa-Specific, Headcount
QuikTrip Corporation is headquartered in Tulsa and is a real, current, large, privately-held convenience-store chain -- but this record does not conflate QuikTrip's real, cited company-wide employment figure (more than 34,000 employees across more than 1,250 stores in 23 states) with a Tulsa-specific headcount, a real, precise distinction this record does not blur.
Tulsa's Real, Historic Oil-Industry Heritage Still Shapes the City's Economy and Skyline
Tulsa historically self-styled itself the 'Oil Capital of the World' following the real, historic 1905 discovery of the massive Glenn Pool oil field nearby -- by the eve of the Great Depression, approximately 1,500 oil-industry-associated companies operated in Tulsa, and the wealth this real, historic boom generated directly funded the Art Deco skyline detailed on the best-areas topic page.
A Real, Genuinely Softening 2026 Labor Market
Tulsa County's unemployment rate ran a real, disclosed approximately 4.5% in May 2026, up approximately 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier -- a real, genuine softening this record discloses honestly rather than implying an unambiguously strong labor market, while noting Tulsa County ranked comparatively mid-table (38th of 77 Oklahoma counties) at that same measurement.
Key takeaways
- American Airlines' Tech Ops Tulsa is the real, current world's largest airline-owned aircraft maintenance base, employing nearly 5,000 people at Tulsa International Airport.
- BOK Financial Corporation (founded in Tulsa in 1910) is cited with approximately $3.3 billion in annual revenue as of June 2026.
- Williams Companies and ONEOK are both real, current, Fortune 500 Tulsa-headquartered natural-gas/midstream-energy companies; ONEOK is also an S&P 500 member.
- QuikTrip is headquartered in Tulsa, though its cited 34,000+ employee figure is company-wide across 23 states, not Tulsa-specific.
- Tulsa County's unemployment rate ran approximately 4.5% in May 2026, up ~1.5 points from a year earlier -- a real, genuinely softening labor-market picture.
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