You may or may not know that Dallas and Oklahoma City are three hours apart by car. Sometimes it can be difficult to understand that from a map. It’s a straight drive on I-35.
I gather many of you who are contemplating a move to the Mid-South, Mid-West or South, whatever you want to call us, look into both of these cities as a place to land. Are they similar?
Honestly they’re so different that we have to cover the differences first. Many of the similarities are centered around culture and location. One thing that can be shocking is you would think that both cities would be representative of the state as a whole and in my opinion, they really are not. Keep reading for a comparison of Oklahoma City vs. Dallas !
History
Oklahoma City was settled in 1889 during what’s known as the “Land Run”, the government decided to let settlers race to settle an area known as Unassigned Lands and around 10,000 people flooded into the area on April 22, 1889. Oklahoma City definitely had a population before this point, it’s not always as defined as other places. Dallas on the other hand has recorded inhabitants that pre-date even Spanish colonists, which were the Caddo tribe. 1856 is the year Dallas was incorporated into a formal city.
Population
As you may have guessed, Oklahoma City is much smaller than Dallas. Oklahoma City’s population is just under 700,000 at the time of filming. Dallas has a population just over 1.3 million. Recently, Oklahoma City moved up in ranks of large cities in the US, Oklahoma is supposedly ranked number 20 in the US in terms of population, though what I found said number 24. Dallas holds the number 9 position for the same category. In terms of metro areas, Oklahoma City has a population of over 1.4 million and Dallas has a metro with a population of 7.6 million…that number is so big because it includes Fort Worth, and most of my figures here do not include Fort Worth.
Watch our OKC comparison videos: Oklahoma City vs. Dallas | Oklahoma City vs. Tulsa
Land Size
Oklahoma City notoriously has a large land mass, one of the biggest in the nation. Total land mass of OKC is 621 square miles. Dallas’s land size is a little more than half of Oklahoma City’s at 386 square miles. It would probably take you longer to drive through Dallas though, because of traffic.
Suburbs
Suburbs are so popular in both of these cities, you’ll find new neighborhoods in what looks like a great ocean of what used to be prairie grass outside of Oklahoma City and Dallas. Oklahoma City’s three largest suburbs are Edmond, Norman, and Moore. All three of these cities have populations of less than 150,000. Dallas though, the suburbs are larger. The three largest suburbs of Dallas: Irving, Arlington, and Plano all have populations over 200,000. See below for a map comparison of Oklahoma City vs. Dallas.
Demographics
66% of Oklahoma City’s population is white. More than 14% of the city’s population is African American or Black. The population of mixed race peoples is almost 8%. 4.41% are Asian. 4.3% are listed as other while Native Americans make up almost 3% of Oklahoma City’s population and Pacific Islanders make up .12% of the population. 4.33% of Oklahoma City’s population is listed as “other”. Oklahoma City is the most diverse city in Oklahoma. https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/oklahoma-city-ok-population
In Dallas, 57.75% are white, 24.3% are black or African American people. 6.37% are mixed race peoples. 7.6% identify as other. 3.61% are Asian. .33% are Native American. .04% are Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders.
Those numbers are pulled from World Population Review.
Thinking of moving to Oklahoma? You can set up a call with Marcie to discuss and ask questions!
Here’s an interesting comparison between Oklahoma City vs. Dallas. Dallas has a much higher median home price than Oklahoma City. The median list price for homes in Dallas is nearly $530,000. Compare that to Oklahoma City where the median list price is $265,000. These numbers are strictly for OKC and Dallas, meaning it does not include any suburbs!
Another big difference in Oklahoma and Texas is the tax structure. Texas does not have state income tax, so you would only pay federal taxes, but they have higher use and sales taxes to make up for that. Oklahoma has income taxes and on average lower property tax rates than Texas does. Oklahoma income tax ranges from 0-5%.
Median income for a household in OKC is right around $57,000 a year, while the median income for a household in Dallas is reported as being lower, a little less than $55,000. Don’t let these numbers fool you, we can see from home prices that the average income in Dallas is much more than OKC, I just hate averages. Also it tells us that many more people live in Dallas’s suburbs than in OKC’s suburbs.
One thing that’s difficult to understand about Oklahoma City is that a lot of it is the country, yes, there are suburbs that surround it on all sides, however there are many neighborhoods that have Oklahoma City addresses that are one acre lots or more! While Dallas is more densely populated as we saw with the sheer size of Oklahoma City compared to Dallas.
There are things you can find in Dallas that you cannot get in Oklahoma. The shopping is much better, we’ve had to travel to Dallas to get specialty items that will probably never be available in Oklahoma. My husband’s family loves going to Dallas to go to Ranch 99 or H Mart. Honestly there are a lot more options for Asian food and supplies in Dallas. Oklahoma City has a couple Asian markets but nothing compared to what Dallas has available.
Both Oklahoma City and Dallas have NBA teams. I’m not really a sports person but I do know that Oklahoma City fans have been rated the best, meaning it’s fun to go cheer on the Oklahoma City Thunder! I have been to one game, it’s not bad if you like crowds. I know there are a lot of sporting teams in Dallas, you can look those up.
If you spend a lot of time in Dallas, typically Oklahoma City will feel like going to a spa. Meaning in Oklahoma City vs. Dallas, life in Oklahoma City is just a lot slower. Like Dallas, Oklahoma City has a ton of highways, Oklahoma City is where I-40, I-44 and I-35 meet. Dallas is the intersection of I-35, I-20, I45, etc etc. If I’m driving in Dallas and my maps are taking me over one of those massive overpasses on an interchange, then I will go the wrong way just to not drive over it. I’m terrified of heights and they’re huge! We don’t have as many in OKC.
Weather might be the biggest similarity between these two cities. Both have tornadoes, I knew you would ask that. Both get super HOT in the summer. Oklahoma City is always a few degrees cooler because of elevation but also because Oklahoma City has less concrete. Both have four distinct seasons. Oklahoma City gets a yearly average of 5.8 inches of snow where Dallas only gets 1.2 inches each year or about that. I will tell you from personal experience that Oklahoma City is better at taking care of their roads in cold weather than Dallas is.
Need more information about Oklahoma City vs. Dallas? You can download our Oklahoma Relocation Guide or we would love to answer your questions!
