A new report “Public Safety and the Minimum Wage” released today by This Land Research and Communications Collaborative highlights the connection between wages and public safety in Oklahoma. The analysis, conducted by Scioto Analysis, shows that raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029 could reduce crime, incarceration, and corrections spending—while delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in social benefits to Oklahoma families and communities.
In this analysis, we estimate a $15 minimum wage in Oklahoma will lead to the following:
Nearly 7,000 fewer crimes each year — including an estimated 55 fewer homicides annually and over 4,900 fewer incidents of larceny.
$840 million in avoided social costs each year, with the majority of savings driven by reductions in violent crime.
The public safety impact of a $15 minimum wage would be equivalent to hiring nearly 1,000 additional police officers—without the additional $58 million in costs to taxpayers.
Oklahoma’s incarcerated population could decline by 370 individuals annually, reducing corrections spending by an estimated $5.7 million each year.
Recidivism rates are projected to fall by six percentage points, helping more Oklahomans successfully reenter society and stay out of prison.
“These findings make clear that wages are not only an economic issue, but a public safety issue,” Rob Moore, Principal for Scioto Analysis, said. “When wages rise, workers are less likely to be pushed toward crime and more likely to build human capital in the legal workforce. This new analysis shows raising the minimum wage isn’t just about higher wages, it’s about building better, safer communities, while saving taxpayers millions of dollars.”
While Oklahoma has made great strides in reducing the number of people in prison, it still has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation, with 1 in 178 residents behind bars. The report underscores that higher wages could help reduce that number even further and reduce the burden on law enforcement and Oklahoma’s corrections system.