Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma. It has many diverse neighborhoods due to its size.

Downtown Tulsa is an area of approximately 1.4 square miles (3.6 km²) surrounded by an inner-dispersal loop created by Interstate 244, Highway 64, and Highway 75. The area serves as Tulsa's financial and business district, and is the focus of a large initiative to draw tourism, which includes plans to capitalize on the area's historic architecture. Much of Tulsa's convention space is located in downtown, such as the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, the Tulsa Convention Center, and the BOK Center. Prominent downtown sub-districts include the "Oil Capital" District, the Blue Dome District, the Arts District, Owen Park Historical Neighborhood, and the Greenwood Historical District, the site of ONEOK Field, a baseball stadium for the Tulsa Drillers opened in 2010.

The city's historical residential core lies in Midtown, just south of Downtown, containing upscale neighborhoods built in the early 20th century with architecture ranging from Art Deco to Greek Revival. The University of Tulsa, the Swan Lake neighborhood, Philbrook Museum, and the upscale shopping districts of Utica Square, Cherry Street, and Brookside are located in this region. A large portion of the city's southern half has developed since the 1970s, containing low-density housing and retail developments. This region, marked by secluded homes and suburban neighborhoods, contains Woodland Hills Mall, as well as Southern Hills Country Club, and Oral Roberts University.

East of Highway 169 and north of 61st street, a diverse racial makeup marks the eastern portions of the city, with large Asian and Mexican communities and much of the city's manufacturing industry.

Areas of Tulsa west of the Arkansas River are called West Tulsa, and are marked by large parks, wilderness reserves, and large oil refineries. The northern tier of the city is home to OSU-Tulsa, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa International Airport, the Tulsa Zoo, the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, and the nation's third-largest municipal park, Mohawk Park.

Tulsa includes many structures built during the Oil Boom in the 1920s and 1930s, including Art Deco buildings such as Boston Avenue Methodist Church and Tulsa Union Depot. Waite Phillips left a significant architectural impact on downtown Tulsa through the Philtower and Philcade Building. Other notable downtown Tulsa buildings include the Exchange Bank Building (today known as the 320 South Boston Building), the Cosden Building (later expanded into today's Mid-Continent Tower), Atlas Life Building, Holy Family Cathedral, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, and the Mayo Hotel. Known for a time as "Terra Cotta City", Tulsa hosted the International Sixth Congress on Art Deco in 2001. The core downtown area was designated on the National Register of Historic Places as the Oil Capital Historic District in 2010.

Downtown Tulsa is in the northwest quadrant of the city and is ringed by an expressway called the Inner Dispersal Loop. Downtown's buildings include many large office towers. At 667 ft (203 m), the BOK Tower (formerly One Williams Center) was the tallest building in any of the 5 "plains states" (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota) until the Devon Tower in Oklahoma City was completed in 2012. The BOK Tower was designed in 1975 by Minoru Yamasaki & Associates, the same architect who designed the World Trade Center in New York City.

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center occupies a half city block in Tulsa's historical downtown. The PAC is also the design of Minoru Yamasaki. It houses five theatres and a reception hall. More than a quarter of a million people visit the Center each year to attend a performance from one of Tulsa's seven acclaimed musical and dramatic companies including the Tulsa Ballet, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Tulsa Opera, Theatre Tulsa, and a variety of symphonic groups. The PAC hosts a multitude of cultural events through the fall, winter, and spring.