Reports · October 2026
Green Country Trades & Service Report
October 2026 edition · Permits, storms, material costs, fuel, wages and the hiring market across 25 counties of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas
What changed this month
Costs are the story. The producer price index for construction materials is up +10.1% on the year, steel +17.9%, and Midwest diesel is $5.95 a gallon — +58% above last September and +15% in a month. Demand is softer but not soft: single-family permits are -13% over twelve months, yet Jul 2026 was the busiest permit month in two years (460 homes) and apartment permits are up +54%. Construction payrolls grew +10.9% in the first quarter to 40,829 jobs, with specialty-trade wages up +7.7% to $1,254 a week — and, for the first time since 2020, more people looking for work: 25-county unemployment is 5.2%, +1.2 points on the year. Spring storm season was quieter than 2025 (167 significant events against 204), but the March 6 tornado outbreak alone did $11.9M of reported property damage across four counties.
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This month in 12 numbers
The dashboard from page one of the edition, in full. Arrows are graded from the reader's seat — up is good for you, whatever the number is doing.
Demand
Costs
Labor & money
Inside this edition
- This month in twelve numbers1
- Demand — permits and new construction2
- Storms — the season so far3
- Storm spotlight: the March 6 outbreak, six months on4
- Costs — materials5
- Costs — fuel, money and the price strip6
- Labor — jobs and wages by trade7
- Labor — where the crews are8
- The service side — repair shops and dealers9
- Three decisions for October10
- Watch list for November11
- Methodology and sources12
- County reference table13
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Subscribe for the year25 counties, every month
Adair, OK, Cherokee, OK, Craig, OK, Crawford, AR, Creek, OK, Delaware, OK, Haskell, OK, Latimer, OK, Le Flore, OK, Mayes, OK, McIntosh, OK, Muskogee, OK, Nowata, OK, Okfuskee, OK, Okmulgee, OK, Osage, OK, Ottawa, OK, Pawnee, OK, Pittsburg, OK, Rogers, OK, Sebastian, AR, Sequoyah, OK, Tulsa, OK, Wagoner, OK, Washington, OK.
Where the numbers come from
Public data only, every figure sourced and dated in the edition itself.
- USDA AMS market news — Oklahoma National Stockyards, Tulsa, McAlester
- USDA NASS — Census of Agriculture, crop progress, land values
- BLS — county employment, wages, unemployment
- US Census — population estimates, business patterns
- Oklahoma Tax Commission and Arkansas DFA — sales tax collections
- US Drought Monitor and Oklahoma Mesonet
- EIA — diesel and fuel; FRED and KC Fed — rates and credit conditions