Patterns of tobacco retailer counts by zoning designations and sociodemographic characteristics in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma

Living in a neighborhood with a high count of tobacco retailers (i.e., tobacco retailer availability, TRA) is associated with youth and adult tobacco use behaviors. As such, policies that reduce TRA have been identified as an important intervention for reducing tobacco use and achieving an equitable tobacco endgame. Zoning regulations could be leveraged as an innovative policy tool to reduce inequities in TRA, especially in states that may preempt local tobacco retail licensing. This study analyzed TRA inequities by zoning designations and sociodemographic characteristics in Oklahoma City and Tulsa (Oklahoma, USA) in 2023. We obtained locations of all licensed tobacco retailers in OKC and Tulsa and downloaded spatial zoning files containing all zoning designations (e.g., C-3, Community Commercial). We created quintiles of 2019-2023 American Community Survey census tract ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic characteristics. We spatially joined these data and calculated the total count of tobacco retailers within zoning designations and across all census tracts. To identify zoning-based inequities, we fit linear regression models examining associations between sociodemographic quintiles of census tracts and the total count of tobacco retailers in each zoning designation in a tract. Across both cities, tobacco retailer counts were generally higher in neighborhoods with greater percentages of Black and Hispanic or Latine residents, lower percentages of White residents, higher income inequality, lower median household income, and higher percentages of residents living below the federal poverty line. Among tracts with commercial zones near residential areas, tracts with the highest (vs. lowest) percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line had 1.4 more retailers (SE, 0.3, p < 0.001) in OKC. This pattern was similar in Tulsa though not significant. In contrast, TRA in tracts with commercial zoning near residential areas was lower in tracts with the highest (vs. lowest) percentage of White residents (OKC: B = -1.1; SE, 0.3, p < 0.01; Tulsa: B = -3.0; SE, 0.8, p < 0.001) and highest (vs. lowest) median household income (OKC: B = -1.4; SE, 0.3, p < 0.001; Tulsa: B = -1.9; SE, 0.8, p < 0.05). For places that are prohibited from implementing licensing-based policies to reduce TRA, zoning laws may be the only viable policy approach to reducing TRA, which may also reduce inequities in tobacco use, promoting health equity.