According to the 2022 American Community Survey, 11 percent of the city’s population are foreign-born. 29,000 Tulsans 5 years and older speak English less than “very well.” This means about 8 percent of the Tulsa population may need some form of English language assistance.

An executive order was signed adopting the Citywide Language Access Policy for the purpose of providing access to City programs and services for those with limited English proficiency (LEP). All City of Tulsa residents and visitors, regardless of their English language proficiency, should have meaningful access to essential public information about City programs, services, activities, and other benefits. The Language Access Policy is in compliance with local, state, and federal civil rights laws.

Read the Mayor's Executive Order

The City’s Language Access Policy is in alignment with the New Tulsans Initiative and Resilience Strategy goals​.

• The New Tulsans Initiative Civic Engagement Goal 1: Immigrants have equitable access to resources and opportunities that support participate and engagement in municipal operations, including multi- lingual information on municipal services and leadership and community service opportunities.​
• Resilient Tulsa Action 37: Develop linguistically accessible city documents. Translate City documents into multiple languages to improve the accessibility of municipal information and resources for multilingual Tulsans. The City of Tulsa will identify and prioritize the translation of municipal documents and resources as part of being a welcoming city. ​

• City of Tulsa iSpeak Card
• Language Access Policy Procedures
• Telephonic Interpreting Best Practices
• Steps to Connect with a Telephonic Interpreter

• Asset Management
• Department of City Experience
• Customer Care
• Development Services
• Human Resources

The City of Tulsa has seen a growing community of immigrants over the past few decades with 46,000 immigrant residents making up 11 percent of Tulsa’s population (American Community Survey, 2022). To learn more about the different foreign languages spoken in the City of Tulsa, please see the following infographic.

• 46,020 immigrants make up 11% of the City of Tulsa’s population.
• Of the foreign-born residents in Tulsa, almost 15,000 or 32% are naturalized citizens while 31,000 residents or 68% are non-citizens.

Foreign-born residents of Tulsa, by continent

Continent Total Percent of foreign-born

• Latin America 28,572 62.1%
• Asia 10,730 23.3%
• Europe 2,946 6.4%
• Africa 2,806 6.1%
• North America 494 1.1%
• Oceania 472 1.0%

Top countries with the most immigrants represented at the City of Tulsa

Country Estimates

1. Mexico 20,881
2. Burma 2,085
3. Guatemala 2,061
4. India 1,609
5. Vietnam 1,401
6. Honduras 1,303
7. China 1,061

• 19 percent or about 73,000 Tulsans 5 years and older speak a language other than English.
• 29,000 Tulsans 5 years and older speak English less than "very well."
• In Tulsa, there are 6,112 households that are considered limited English-speaking households.

According to 2021 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample 5-year estimates of the Tulsa area4, the top languages spoken by Tulsans with limited English proficiency are as follow in order of frequency

1. Spanish
2. Zopau/Burmese
3. Vietnamese
4. Hmong
5. Chinese
6. Arabic

Other languages less frequently spoken by Tulsans with limited English proficiency are as follow in alphabetical order.

• Chuukese
• Dari
• Hindi
• Japanese
• Korean
• Marshallese/Ebon
• Pashto
• Russian
• Tagalog