Oklahoma City is located centrally within the state, situated in the Frontier Country region. The city covers a massive geographic footprint—over 620 square miles—making it one of the largest cities by land area in the United States. It sits in the Cross Timbers ecoregion, a transition zone where the heavily forested areas of eastern Oklahoma give way to the grassy plains of the west.
The city is bisected by the North Canadian River, which was recently dammed and renamed the Oklahoma River as it passes through the city limits. This modification turned a frequently dry riverbed into a series of lakes used for recreation and Olympic-caliber rowing. The city's geography is generally open and sprawling, allowing for extensive suburban development while retaining pockets of native prairie and woodlands.