{"id":7001,"date":"2023-08-23T21:01:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=7001"},"modified":"2026-08-21T08:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:37:10","slug":"coal-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/coal-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Coal County, Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Coal County is a county in Oklahoma, United States, on the north edge of the old Choctaw Coal Belt in the state&#8217;s south-central hill country. It had a population of 5,266 at the 2020 census and covers 521 square miles (1,350 km2) centred near 34\u00b036\u2032N 96\u00b018\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Coalgate is the county seat, and its postal code is 74538. The county has four incorporated cities, two towns, two census-designated places and several unincorporated communities. It sits in the Central time zone.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Coal County<\/h2>\n<p>Coal County has ten named cities, towns and CDPs plus a scatter of unincorporated crossroads communities left from its coal-mining and cotton-farming past. Most sit along US-75 or State Highway 31.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Coalgate<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>74538<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Centrahoma<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>74534<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lehigh<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>74556<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tupelo<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>74572<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bromide<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Phillips<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Clarita<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>74535<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cottonwood<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cairo<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Olney<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Parker<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>East Jesse<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>74538 &mdash; Coalgate, home to about three-quarters of the county&#8217;s residents<\/li>\n<li>74534 &mdash; Centrahoma<\/li>\n<li>74535 &mdash; Clarita<\/li>\n<li>74556 &mdash; Lehigh<\/li>\n<li>74572 &mdash; Tupelo<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bromide, Phillips, Cottonwood, Cairo, Olney, Parker and East Jesse have no dedicated ZIP of their own; mail there is routed through the nearest listed post office.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Coal County lies in the low, wooded hills between the Canadian and Blue river drainages, with terrain rising toward the Jack Fork Mountains along its southern edge. Most of the county drains north and east toward the Muddy Boggy Creek system, and the roughly 4.7 square miles of water is mostly small farm ponds and creek impoundments rather than a single named lake. Oak-hickory woodland covers much of the uplands, giving way to bottomland pasture along the creeks. The county borders Hughes County to the north, Pittsburg County to the northeast, Atoka County to the southeast, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/johnston-county-oklahoma\/\">Johnston County<\/a> to the southwest, and Pontotoc County to the west.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>The 2020 census counted 5,266 residents, with Coalgate the largest community and Tupelo and Centrahoma the next-largest incorporated places. Coal County&#8217;s median household income runs well below the Oklahoma median of $62,138, reflecting the loss of both the coal-mining and cotton economies that once anchored it. At 5,266 people across 517 square miles of land, density works out to roughly 10 people per square mile, among the more sparsely settled counties in southeastern Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Coal mining employed thousands here from the 1870s through the 1910s and gave the county its name; cattle ranching, hay and small-grain farming replaced it after the mines closed. Coalgate remains the trade center, with the county courthouse, Coalgate Public Schools and a hospital clinic. Poultry operations and oil and gas leasing also contribute to the local economy, and many rural residents commute to jobs in Ada or McAlester.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>Coal County was organized in 1907 at Oklahoma statehood, carved from the Choctaw Nation&#8217;s Jackson and Blue counties, and named for the bituminous coal seams mined around Coalgate and Lehigh. Coal mining peaked between 1910 and 1916, with company camps around Lehigh and Phillips; the industry collapsed after World War I as demand fell and companies resisted unionization. A boll weevil infestation from 1921 to 1923 then wrecked the cotton crop that had been the fallback economy, and every bank in the county failed within a few years. In the 2008 presidential election, Coal County recorded one of the largest single-election partisan swings of any county in the nation.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>US-75 runs north-south through Coalgate and Centrahoma; State Highway 31 crosses the county east-west through Coalgate.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ada &mdash; 25 miles west<\/li>\n<li>McAlester &mdash; 25 miles northeast<\/li>\n<li>Ardmore &mdash; 45 miles southwest<\/li>\n<li>Durant &mdash; 40 miles south<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The nearest commercial airport is McAlester Regional Airport; the nearest major hub airport is Dallas Fort Worth International, about 150 miles south.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Coal County, Oklahoma?<\/strong><br \/>It is in south-central Oklahoma, between the Ada and McAlester areas, roughly 100 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Coal County?<\/strong><br \/>5,266 people, per the 2020 census.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Coal County?<\/strong><br \/>521 square miles (1,350 km2), of which about 4.7 square miles is water.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Coal County?<\/strong><br \/>Coalgate is the county seat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns are in Coal County?<\/strong><br \/>Four cities, two towns and two census-designated places, plus several unincorporated communities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes are in Coal County?<\/strong><br \/>74538 (Coalgate), 74534 (Centrahoma), 74535 (Clarita), 74556 (Lehigh) and 74572 (Tupelo).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why is it called Coal County?<\/strong><br \/>For the bituminous coal seams mined around Coalgate and Lehigh from the 1870s to the 1910s, once among the busiest coalfields in Indian Territory.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/oklahoma\/\">Towns and villages in Oklahoma<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coal County is a county in Oklahoma, United States, on the north edge of the old Choctaw Coal Belt in the state&#8217;s south-central hill country. It had a population of 5,266 at the 2020 census and covers 521 square miles (1,350 km2) centred near 34\u00b036\u2032N 96\u00b018\u2032W. Coalgate is the county seat, and its postal code [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Coal County, Oklahoma","_seopress_titles_desc":"Coal County, Oklahoma: population, towns, ZIP codes, geography and history of Coalgate, Centrahoma, Lehigh, Tupelo and more.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-7001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-oklahoma","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7001"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10932,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7001\/revisions\/10932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}