{"id":7003,"date":"2023-08-23T21:06:52","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=7003"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:35:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:35:24","slug":"comanche-county-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/comanche-county-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Comanche County, Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comanche County is a county in Oklahoma, United States, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma
\nCity. It had a population of 121,125 at the 2020 census, an estimated 122,158 by 2025, and covers
\n1,069 square miles (2,770 km2) of land centred near 34\u00b040\u2032N 98\u00b028\u2032W.<\/p>\n

Lawton is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 73501. The
\ncounty holds 3 cities, 7 incorporated towns, 4 census-designated lake communities and 3
\nunincorporated communities, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 40031.<\/p>\n

Towns & Villages in Comanche County<\/h2>\n

Comanche County has 17 named places on record: 10 incorporated cities and towns, 4
\ncensus-designated places (CDPs) built up along Lake Ellsworth and Lake Lawtonka, and 3
\nunincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census
\ndesignated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads communities with no formal boundary.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Place<\/th>\nType<\/th>\nPop.<\/th>\nZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Lawton<\/td>\nCity · seat<\/td>\n90,381<\/td>\n73501–73507<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Elgin<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n3,656<\/td>\n73538<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cache<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n2,930<\/td>\n73527<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fletcher<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n1,204<\/td>\n73541<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Geronimo<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n1,158<\/td>\n73543<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sterling<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n668<\/td>\n73567<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medicine Park<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n411<\/td>\n73557<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chattanooga<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n73528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indiahoma<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n275<\/td>\n73552<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Faxon<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n114<\/td>\n73540<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Edgewater Park<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n262<\/td>\n73006<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lake Ellsworth Addition<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n223<\/td>\n73006<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lawtonka Acres<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n187<\/td>\n73507<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lakeside Village<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n162<\/td>\n73538<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bethel<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n73501<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Meers<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n73558<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pumpkin Center<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Chattanooga sits on the Comanche–Tillman county line; the 400-resident population figure
\nabove is citywide, and the bulk of the town lies in Comanche County. Lawton’s ZIP range
\n73501–73507 covers the city and the Fort Sill post exchange area jointly.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n

Comanche County straddles the boundary between Oklahoma’s southern plains and the granite
\npeaks of the Wichita Mountains, which rise across the county’s northwest corner. Of its 1,084
\nsquare miles, 1,069 are land and 14 are water, about 1.3 percent, held mostly in two reservoirs:
\nLake Ellsworth in the north and Lake Lawtonka northwest of Lawton, both ringed by the CDPs in the
\ntable above. The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge covers 59,020 acres of the county’s
\nnorthwest corner, protecting mixed-grass prairie, granite outcrops up to 2,464 feet at Mount
\nScott, and a bison herd reintroduced from the Bronx Zoo in 1907.<\/p>\n

Kiowa County lies to the northwest, Caddo County to the north, Grady County to the northeast,
\nStephens County to the southeast, Cotton County to the south, and Tillman County to the
\nsouthwest. Kiowa County<\/a>, Caddo County<\/a>, Grady County<\/a>, Stephens County<\/a>, Cotton County<\/a> and Tillman County<\/a> all border Comanche
\ndirectly.<\/p>\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n

Comanche County had a population of 121,125 at the 2020 census, the fifth-highest count of any
\nOklahoma county, and a 2025 estimate puts it near 122,158. Lawton and Elgin are the two largest
\ncommunities, with Lawton alone holding roughly three-quarters of the county total. Median
\nhousehold income runs $60,761 as of 2024, below Oklahoma’s statewide 2023 ACS figure of
\n$62,138. Population density works out to about 113 people per square mile of land, high for
\nsouthwestern Oklahoma and driven almost entirely by Lawton and the Fort Sill population it
\nadjoins.<\/p>\n

Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\n

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 8,097 people,
\nfollowed by retail trade at 4,982 and educational services at 4,546. Fort Sill, the US Army’s
\nField Artillery School headquarters on the county’s north side, is the largest single
\nemployer, with more than 5,000 full-time personnel and civilian staff. Goodyear Tire and Rubber
\nruns a plant in Lawton employing about 2,400 people, and Cameron University, also in Lawton,
\nenrolled nearly 3,700 students in 2024. In 2025, Firehawk Aerospace announced a $22 million rocket
\nfuel production facility in Lawton. Meers, in the county’s northwest corner, is home to the
\nMeers Store, a former gold-mining boomtown building now known for its burgers. The county’s
\nbiggest annual event is the Prince of Peace Easter Pageant at the Holy City of the Wichitas, a
\ngranite amphitheater in the Wichita Mountains that has staged the passion play every spring since
\n1926.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n

Comanche County was organized on 8 July 1901, when the former Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation
\nopened to non-Native settlement by land lottery; about 29,000 homesteaders registered at Fort Sill
\nfor a chance at a claim. The county is named for the Comanche Nation, whose reservation the land
\nhad been. Fort Sill itself predates the county by more than three decades, staked out in January
\n1869 by Major General Philip Sheridan during the Army’s campaigns against Plains tribes in
\nIndian Territory; the post still covers almost 94,000 acres north of Lawton. Medicine Park, in the
\ncounty’s northwest, was founded in 1908 by future US Senator Elmer Thomas as a resort town
\nbuilt of red granite cobblestone, and its original buildings still stand.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/h2>\n

Interstate 44, the H.E. Bailey Turnpike, crosses the county through Lawton. US 62, US 277 and US
\n281 also run through the county.<\/p>\n