Gravel driveway cost in Tulsa, OK

Tulsa against nearby metros and the rest of Oklahoma

Same job, same size (1,000 sq ft), priced for the nearest metros. Joplin is the priciest of the group at $6,050. Fort Smith is the cheapest at $5,300.

Across 300 US metros, Tulsa comes in at #245 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $9,500; the cheapest is McAllen, TX at $5,200 (midpoints, 1,000 sq ft). Statewide, Tulsa is 3% above the Oklahoma figure.

Other Oklahoma metros

Cities with a workforce like Tulsa's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Tulsa against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Cost by quality level and size in Tulsa

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Tulsa wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Planning more than one job in Tulsa?

Because every project leans on different trades, Tulsa's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, sod installation runs −7% and concrete driveway −13%.

Tulsa labor market for gravel driveway

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 2 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Tulsa is 0.86 times the national level.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 50% of the weighting: a median of $20.77 an hour, 8% below the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $18.11 and $23.29 an hour. About 3,990 work in the metro. That is 87.0 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, which suggests plenty of local crews to bid.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 50%) the local median is $23.28 an hour, which is 19% below the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $21.83 and $27.29 an hour. BLS counts 1,530 of them working in the area, 33.4 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is about average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the construction laborers on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($23.29 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $180. At the 25th percentile ($18.11) it shrinks by about $180. The total moves by 3.1% or 3.2%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 458,730 jobs in the Tulsa area. That makes it the 54th largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.30% of US employment.

Gravel driveway: what moves the price in Tulsa

• Grading and edging

  Grading runs $1-$3 per sq ft. Edging to keep the stone in is $5-$18 per linear foot.

• Stone is sold by weight

  Stone is priced by the ton, so every extra inch of depth or foot of width adds loads of delivery.

• Permit

  A driveway permit is typically $50-$200 where one is needed for a new curb cut or connection; plenty of rural counties require none.

Climate in Tulsa: timing your gravel driveway job

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Tulsa Intl Ap (5 miles from the city center). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

March through June and September through November are the stretches where digging, grading and setting material in the ground runs into the fewest weather problems in Tulsa (7 of 12 months). January, February and December have an average overnight low at or below freezing (32°F); July and August have an average daytime high of 90°F or more.

In January, February and December the average low is at or below freezing, which means frozen ground and slower digging, compaction and sod or stone placement. NOAA counts about 72 days a year with a low at or below 32°F at this station.

Tulsa gets about 41 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 9 inches of snow. The wettest months are April, May and June (5.7 inches in May). Inside the workable window, March and November are the driest, at 3.1 and 2.7 inches. The station averages about 74 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Optional extras in Tulsa

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Tulsa by the average of the local wage index (0.86) and goods index (0.94), a factor of 0.90. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.