McCurtain County, Oklahoma

McCurtain County is a county in Oklahoma, United States, in the state’s far southeastern
corner, about 43 miles east of Hugo and 21 miles west of the Arkansas line. It had a population
of 30,814 at the 2020 census, an estimated 30,744 by 2025, and covers 1,902 square miles (4,930
km2) centred near 34°07′N 94°46′W.

Idabel is the county seat; its postal code is 74745. The county holds 2 cities, 7 incorporated
towns and 2 census-designated places, plus dozens of smaller unincorporated communities, and it
runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 40089.

Towns & Villages in McCurtain County

McCurtain County has 11 places with recognized city, town or CDP status — 2 cities, 7
incorporated towns and 2 census-designated places — plus more than 40 rural communities
that survive only as post-office names, crossroads or church clusters, listed below with no
population or ZIP data because the Census Bureau does not track them individually. CDP stands
for census designated place; Unincorp. covers those crossroads and rural communities.

Hochatown carries two histories at one name. The original riverside settlement sits under 200
feet of Broken Bow Lake, flooded when the Corps of Engineers dammed the Mountain Fork River in
1968; the modern Hochatown, a mile west of the lake on US 259, only incorporated as a town in
2023 and today runs almost entirely on cabin-rental tourism.

Geography

McCurtain County lies in Oklahoma’s far southeastern corner, where the Ouachita Mountains’
foothills meet the Gulf Coastal Plain. Of its 1,902 square miles, 1,850 are land and 52 are
water, about 2.8 percent. The Mountain Fork River, dammed to form Broken Bow Lake, and the Little
River, which crosses the county’s southern half, are its two major waterways; the Little River
holds Oklahoma’s lowest point, near the Arkansas and Texas lines. The county is the only place in
Oklahoma inside the American alligator’s natural range, tied to the swampy Red Slough bottomland
in its far south.

Le Flore County and Choctaw County
border McCurtain to the north, and Pushmataha
County lies to the northwest. Polk County, Arkansas, borders it to the northeast; href=”https://townsvillages.com/us/sevier-county/”>Sevier County, Arkansas, and Little River
County, Arkansas, lie to the east. Bowie
County, Texas, and Red River County,
Texas, border the county to the south across the Red River.

Demographics

McCurtain County had a population of 30,814 at the 2020 census, an estimated 30,744 by 2025,
roughly flat over the decade. Idabel and Broken Bow are the two largest communities, together
holding well over a third of the county’s residents. Population density works out to about 16.6
people per square mile of land, sparse even by rural-Oklahoma standards. American Indians, mostly
Choctaw, make up 14.7 percent of the county’s population, reflecting its history as the eastern
core of the old Choctaw Nation.

Economy & Local Life

Timber, forestry and cattle ranching drive the county economy; McCurtain County harvests around
60 million cubic feet of lumber a year, more than any other Oklahoma county, from pine
plantations planted on land once cleared for cotton. Limestone, sand and gravel extraction employ
workers around Idabel and Broken Bow. Tourism has grown fastest around Broken Bow Lake and
Beavers Bend Resort Park, where cabin rentals concentrated in Hochatown draw visitors mostly from
Texas; the park itself recorded 2,283,559 visits in 2021, among the highest of any Oklahoma state
park. The Museum of the Red River in Idabel holds art and archaeology collections, including a
skeletal cast of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, the state dinosaur.

History

Oklahoma’s legislature formed McCurtain County at statehood in 1907, carved from the eastern
Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory. The county is named for the McCurtain family, three brothers
— Jackson, Edmund and Green — who each served as principal chief of the Choctaw
Nation; Green McCurtain was the nation’s last chief before statehood dissolved its tribal
government. Eagletown, in the county’s northeast, was the first permanent Choctaw settlement
after the tribe’s forced removal from Mississippi beginning in 1832, and served as the seat of
the Choctaw Nation’s Eagle County until statehood; missionary Cyrus Byington compiled his written
Choctaw dictionary there. Idabel, founded in 1902 as a railroad station and named for the two
daughters of a railroad official, was hit by an EF4 tornado on 4 November 2022 that damaged much
of the city’s southeast side.

Getting There

No interstate crosses McCurtain County. US 70 runs east–west through Idabel and Valliant, US
259 runs north–south through Broken Bow and Hochatown, and State Highway 3 links Idabel to
Haworth and the Arkansas line.

• Hugo — about 43 miles west
• De Queen, Arkansas — about 30 miles east
• Texarkana — about 73 miles southeast
• Paris, Texas — about 65 miles southwest

Texarkana Regional Airport, roughly 73 miles southeast of Idabel, is the nearest commercial
airport with scheduled service. No Amtrak line runs through McCurtain County; the nearest station
is in Texarkana.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is McCurtain County located?
It sits in Oklahoma’s far southeastern corner, bordered by Le Flore, Choctaw and Pushmataha
counties in Oklahoma, Polk, Sevier and Little River counties in Arkansas, and Bowie and Red River
counties in Texas.

What is the population of McCurtain County?
30,814 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 30,744.

How big is McCurtain County?
1,902 square miles (4,927 km2), of which 1,850 square miles are land, making it Oklahoma’s
largest county by area.

What is the county seat of McCurtain County?
Idabel, founded in 1902 as a railroad station, is the county seat.

How many towns and cities are in McCurtain County?
Nine incorporated places — Idabel, Broken Bow, Valliant, Wright City, Haworth, Garvin,
Hochatown, Millerton and Smithville — plus two census-designated places, Eagletown and
Golden, and dozens of unincorporated rural communities.

What ZIP codes does McCurtain County use?
74745 for Idabel, 74728 for Broken Bow and Hochatown, 74764 for Valliant, 74766 for Wright City,
74740 for Haworth, 74736 for Garvin, 74750 for Millerton, 74957 for Smithville, 74734 for
Eagletown and 74737 for Golden.

What is McCurtain County known for?
Broken Bow Lake and Beavers Bend Resort Park, Oklahoma’s most-visited state park destination,
and Eagletown, the first permanent Choctaw settlement after removal from Mississippi.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Oklahoma.