Del City, OK

A 1946 prefab-built “Crossroads of America” bedroom suburb wedged between Oklahoma City and Tinker Air Force Base — older, smaller, and more affordable than neighboring Midwest City, with the same base-adjacent housing demand.

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The Del City War Memorial, with flags and a display of military armor, at a park in Del City, Oklahoma — The Del City War Memorial. Photo: Dcheagle, CC BY-SA 3.0.

What Del City is actually like

Del City is a company town for a company that built houses. Capitol Hill homebuilder George I. Epperly bought 160 acres at the corner of SE 29th Street and Sunny Lane Road in 1946 and used prefabricated construction methods to cut costs and build time; the first house was finished in January 1947, and the remaining 49 homes in that first batch sold so fast that several went before the finish work was even done. The community incorporated on October 9, 1948, once it reached 200 families, and Epperly named it after his eldest daughter, Delaphene. In 1949 the National Association of Home Builders recognized the development for its “soundness of design and construction, and suitability of the project to its location” (Oklahoma Historical Society).

Del City grew by leverage as much as by building. Positioned about three miles east of Oklahoma City and marketed as the “Crossroads of America” for its proximity to what became I-35 and I-40, the city expanded through three deliberate mergers — Carter Park in 1954, Midway Village in 1963, and undeveloped land near Tinker Air Force Base after a 1964 court victory against an Oklahoma City annexation attempt (Oklahoma Historical Society). That Tinker-adjacent land put Del City directly in the path of the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak: the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado, weakened from its F5 peak near Moore but still a violent F4, struck near Sooner Road at the edge of Tinker Air Force Base, killing seven Del City residents and an Air Force staff sergeant during post-storm recovery work — losses a tornado memorial along Sooner Road still marks today (Wikipedia).

Del City's population has actually declined from its 1980 peak of 28,523, settling at an estimated 21,138 as of July 1, 2025 — down 3.1% since the 2020 Census — with a median household income of $46,925 and a 56% homeownership rate (U.S. Census Bureau). Two-time Olympic gold medalist wrestler John Smith and MLB catcher J.T. Realmuto both grew up here — a small but real marker of the same working, family-scale character the city's post-war prefab housing stock still reflects (Wikipedia).

Home values in Del City

Zillow's Home Value Index for Del City was $141,501 as of July 31, 2026, up 0.7% year-over-year (Zillow) — notably below both Midwest City's $170,509 and the broader OKC-metro-core norm, the clearest sign of Del City's older, smaller, more affordable housing stock. Oklahoma County's effective property tax rate runs a median 0.89% on homes in this corridor (Ownwell), against Oklahoma's statewide effective rate of 0.79% (Tax Foundation); Oklahoma also levies a graduated state income tax from 0.50% to 4.50%, unlike income-tax-free Texas to the south (Tax Foundation). Del City participates in FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System at Class 6, which qualifies property owners in mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas for a 20% discount on flood insurance premiums (FludZone). The same Tinker AFB BAH rates that apply to Midwest City apply here too — $1,644 a month for an E-5 with dependents, $1,974 for an O-3 with dependents in 2026 (Tinker AFB Housing) — and against Del City's lower home values, that allowance goes further than it does anywhere else in this corridor.

Getting around

A 35 Walk Score is a genuinely car-dependent number, and without a dedicated EMBARK route reaching into the city, Del City is functionally a drive-everywhere suburb — more so than Midwest City next door. What it trades for that is price: home values here run well below Midwest City's, and the same Tinker-driven rental demand supports a smaller, older, more affordable stock of starter homes close to the base.

Del City FAQ

Is Del City walkable?

No -- Walk Score puts the city at 35 (“Car-Dependent”) with a 41 Bike Score, and there's no dedicated fixed-route EMBARK bus service inside city limits. Most errands here require a car.

How is Del City different from Midwest City?

Both border Tinker Air Force Base and share its housing demand, but Del City is older, smaller (about 21,100 residents versus Midwest City's 58,800), and notably more affordable -- a $141,501 Zillow home value versus Midwest City's $170,509. Del City also has its own separate 1948 incorporation history, distinct from Midwest City's 1943 founding as a purpose-built air-depot town.

Does Del City have its own hospital?

Yes, but a small-format one: INTEGRIS Health Community Hospital opened inside Del City in 2019 with emergency care, inpatient beds, and lab/imaging, though not full tertiary-care services. SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital -- Midwest, a full-service hospital, is a short drive north in neighboring Midwest City.

What's the flood and tornado risk like in Del City?

Tornadoes are the real risk here, not flooding -- Del City carries an NFIP Community Rating System Class 6 (a 20% flood-insurance discount in mapped flood zones), but its defining severe-weather event was the high-end F4 tornado that struck its Sooner Road corridor on May 3, 1999.

What happened in Del City during the 1999 tornado?

The Bridge Creek-Moore tornado, an F5 near Moore, weakened to a still-violent F4 as it struck Del City near Sooner Road and the edge of Tinker Air Force Base, killing seven Del City residents and an Air Force staff sergeant during post-storm recovery work. A memorial along Sooner Road marks the losses today.

Who lives in Del City?

Del City's population was an estimated 21,138 as of mid-2025, down 3.1% since the 2020 Census, with a median household income of $46,925 and a 56% homeownership rate -- an older, working, family-scale suburb built on post-war prefab housing. Wrestler John Smith and MLB catcher J.T. Realmuto both grew up here.

Nearby alternatives*

Midwest City

Directly northeast, sharing the same Tinker AFB boundary -- larger, newer-built on average, and pricier (a $170,509 Zillow home value versus Del City's $141,501), with Rose State College and the Atkinson Heritage Center as its own civic anchors.

Shawnee

About 30 miles further east on I-40 -- the CSA's namesake city, with home values below even Del City's and a character built around Oklahoma Baptist University and the Citizen Potawatomi Nation rather than Tinker AFB.

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Quick facts

County: Oklahoma County (Tinker AFB corridor)
Transit: Walk Score puts Del City at 35 (“Car-Dependent”) with a 41 Bike Score (Walk Score). No dedicated EMBARK fixed route runs inside Del City itself: Route 15's published stop list covers Midwest City's own streets and doesn't cross into Del City (EMBARK), so the nearest fixed-route bus stops sit just across the Midwest City line rather than inside the city itself.
Landmarks: Eagle Lake, the city's small recreational fishing lake; the tornado memorial along Sooner Road honoring the seven Del City residents and one Air Force staff sergeant lost in the May 1999 outbreak; the Tinker Air Force Base gate along the city's eastern edge; and INTEGRIS Health Community Hospital
Commute to Downtown: About 6 miles and roughly a 10–15 minute drive to downtown Oklahoma City via I-40; Census ACS data puts Del City residents' mean commute at 20.1 minutes, shorter than the U.S. average of 26.4 (Data USA).
Flood & storm risk: Like the rest of this corridor, Del City's headline weather risk is tornadoes rather than river or coastal flooding, though the city carries an above-average NFIP Community Rating already reflected in lower flood-insurance premiums.
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Del City sits in the same Crutcho Creek/North Canadian River drainage as Midwest City, and it participates in FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System at Class 6 — a rating that earns property owners in mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas a 20% discount on flood insurance premiums (FludZone), a sign the city has invested in floodplain management even though river flooding isn't its dominant risk. That dominant risk is tornadoes: the May 3, 1999 outbreak's high-end F4 struck directly along Del City's Sooner Road corridor at Tinker's edge, and tornado season here runs roughly April through June each year. Always confirm a specific address's exact FEMA flood-zone designation via FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, but budget mentally for tornado risk first.
Nearest hospital: INTEGRIS Health Community Hospital, a small-format facility at 4801 SE 15th St. inside Del City itself, opened in 2019 with emergency care, inpatient beds, and lab/imaging services but not full tertiary-care capacity (INTEGRIS Health); SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital – Midwest, a full-service hospital, is a short drive north in neighboring Midwest City for higher-acuity care.
Property taxes: County & state rates →
Relocating here: Employers, licensing & the metro basics →
Zoning & HOA character: Local rules & HOA character →
Utilities: OG&E (Oklahoma Gas & Electric) provides electric service, part of the same smart-grid rollout OG&E ran across both Del City and Midwest City (OGE Energy Corp.); the City of Del City runs its own municipal water, sewer, and utility billing department directly for residents (City of Del City).

Metro context ▾

Weather facts for the whole metro are on the Oklahoma City metro snapshot →.

Schools

Mid-Del School District (Midwest City-Del City Public Schools), the same district that covers neighboring Midwest City. Confirm the specific zoned school via the district's own attendance-boundary maps before making an offer.