Lawton vs Sterling

A side-by-side comparison of Lawton and Sterling: population, income, housing, and more.

Lawton and Sterling are places in Oklahoma. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lawton has the higher population (90,662 vs 730 in Sterling). Sterling has the higher median household income ($65,521 vs $53,588 in Lawton). Lawton has the higher median home value ($134,200 vs $120,800 in Sterling).

Population, income & housing

	Lawton	Sterling
Population	90,662	730
Median age	32.1 yrs	35.9 yrs
Median household income	$53,588	$65,521
Median home value	$134,200	$120,800
Median gross rent	$935	$775
Housing units	39,845	326
Homeownership rate	44.6%	72.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.9%	10.1%
Unemployment rate	8.1%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lawton	Sterling
Population	94,017 → 90,662 (-3.6%)	637 → 730 (+14.6%)
Median household income	$47,779 → $53,588 (+12.2%)	$43,750 → $65,521 (+49.8%)
Median home value	$112,800 → $134,200 (+19.0%)	$79,500 → $120,800 (+51.9%)
Median gross rent	$832 → $935 (+12.4%)	$500 → $775 (+55.0%)

Lawton

Population

94,01790,662

Median household income

$47,779$53,588

Median home value

$112,800$134,200

Median gross rent

$832$935

Sterling

Population

637730

Median household income

$43,750$65,521

Median home value

$79,500$120,800

Median gross rent

$500$775

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lawton	Sterling
Under 5	6.9%	2.2%
5 to 17	16.3%	26.2%
18 to 24	13.1%	2.3%
25 to 34	18.5%	17.5%
35 to 44	13.1%	9.5%
45 to 54	9.4%	10.5%
55 to 64	10.6%	17.0%
65 to 74	7.3%	6.7%
75 and over	4.8%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lawton	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	48.7%	86.4%
Black or African American	17.6%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.6%	1.2%
Asian	2.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	10.4%	7.1%
Hispanic or Latino	16.0%	5.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lawton	Sterling
No high school diploma	10.4%	6.7%
High school graduate	33.2%	59.1%
Some college or associate's	33.4%	24.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.7%	6.5%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	3.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lawton	Sterling
Drove alone	73.0%	93.7%
Carpooled	9.2%	2.1%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.5%	2.1%
Other means	2.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lawton	Sterling
1-unit, detached	68.9%	79.8%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	10.7%
5 to 19 units	11.0%	2.5%
20 or more units	5.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.3%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Lawton	Sterling
Poverty rate	20.8%	17.1%
Average household size	2.45	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	16	30
Median year structure built	1974	1973