Hello this is Marcie Billen with Rüya Team Realty and Keller Williams Mulinix and welcome! Keep reading to learn about some pros & cons of living in Oklahoma!
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So, I’ve actually never lived anywhere else other than Oklahoma. I grew up in Claremore, which is just northeast of Tulsa in the northeast part of the state of Oklahoma. And then, when I was 19 I moved to Norman which is just south of Oklahoma City. My husband did live in Elk City, which is way out in western Oklahoma when he first moved to Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is a really big state and there are a lot of things to take into consideration if you’re thinking about moving here or even if you’re thinking about moving to a different part of the state.
CONS
All right so I’m gonna cover the cons first. The seasons in Oklahoma are really crazy. So if you live in the south already, then you already know this — and just a note on that– so Oklahoma can’t really be called “the south”. We’re not truly the south, we’re not the Midwest either. So there is always a battle going on about what region Oklahomans are actually from.
Brutal Weather Seasons
Anyway the harsh truth of it is, we have really harsh seasons; so fall is either really hot or really cold, and we may have one or two days that are nice in the fall. In the winter it doesn’t snow, it can rain a lot and then it’s really windy like “wind comes sweeping down the plains” but that’s pretty much all the time. The summer is really hot. Do you remember when you were a kid and your mom had her hair dryer on high and she would put it right in your face? You’ve got hot air right in your face – that’s what it’s like in the summer. It’s a hot wind and incredibly high humidity and that brings us to spring. Spring time is a strange one in Oklahoma. Have you ever watched the national news? So if you have, you know I’m talking about tornadoes in Oklahoma. During the springtime that’s our tornado season; usually in May.
Other states get tornadoes as well, but we’re really famous for them. We’ve had two really big tornadoes hit Moore, Oklahoma, which is just north of where I live. One in 1999 and one in 2013. One of the first things that people mention to me whenever they’re planning to move here is that they really want to tornado shelter, which is usually underground or fully concrete in someone’s house. As an Oklahoman myself, I’ve never actually been in a tornado. The only one I was very close to being in was the big 2013 tornado that hit more than F6 and I actually took cover during that one and that was the second time in my life I had taken cover for a tornado. My husband, Hansom, was actually in the May 2013 tornado. He was working in that hospital when it got hit. Oklahomans are also known for standing on their porches and watching the tornadoes approach. Not a very good idea, but it’s a pretty cool site, so understandable.
Toll Roads
Oklahoma is pretty sparsely populated compared to other states. So one of the cons I have listed here is actually Turnpikes or toll roads. There are several that crisscross this state. Most people have Pike Passes that are like credit cards that are read as you run through the little toll booths, and we use them here on the Turnpikes to get from one city to another. They’re often really long and they’re not even that great of roads whenever you’re driving on them, which is kind of crazy because we have to pay every time you use them! One thing that people find really tough about living in Oklahoma its how difficult it can be to travel outside the state.
Most people either live in the Oklahoma City Metro Area or the Tulsa Metro Area, and driving to another state that has a major city can be quite a hassle. It’s quite far, and then using the airports here – while it’s getting better, it’s still wildly expensive to travel many places. They are opening up more and more direct flights but often it’s gonna cost you twice as much to find to another landlocked state then it would be to fly to a city on the coast. Travel deals can be found from Oklahoma City and Tulsa and you have to be really diligent in finding them.
Lack of Public Transportation
The last con that I’m gonna list today is that there is virtually no public transportation, like almost none at all. Being sparsely populated here in Oklahoma means we don’t really have the tax revenue to fund any public transportation. Of course there’s always those dreamers that say we’re gonna get a train from Tulsa to Oklahoma City that’s gonna connect to the Heartland Fire, which is another train that goes out of Norman and down to Fort Worth, but what are you gonna do when you actually get to Tulsa, Oklahoma City or Fort Worth and you don’t have a car taking you? A bus in those cities is next to impossible and everything is so far apart; not taking an Uber or Lyft is not really cost-effective. You may as well just take your car, at that point.
PROS
Sports
On to my pros list! So the number one pro I have listed about living in Oklahoma are the sporting events. Sporting events are how so many Oklahomans spend their free time. You have your southern classics – of course, football. Football is a way of life here. High school football is extremely popular; college football is an institution! Game days in Norman, Oklahoma where the University of Oklahoma is located are basically one huge party and I would say outside of holidays, football is where people have the most traditions. We don’t have pro football, but we have pro basketball. The Thunder is Oklahoma City’s basketball team and it’s said that we have the best fans in the country when it comes to pro basketball. And of course one of my favorite sporting events to go and watch is rodeo. I grew up going to a few rodeos every year and they’re pretty exciting! And they’re also fairly dangerous for the participants.
Options
Another pro to living in Oklahoma is how different eastern and western Oklahoma are. Eastern Oklahoma has rolling hills, lots of forests and trees, especially as it transitions into Arkansas and the forests and mountains there. Western Oklahoma is as flat as a pancake and it stretches on for what seems like forever. Once you get past Oklahoma City and drive west into either New Mexico or Texas. My husband, Hansom, actually lived in Elk City which is in western Oklahoma for a number of years.
I lived in Elk City for about four to five years during my school years.Back then, the main form of entertainment for us was kind of hanging out at friend’s houses, but also like driving around town. Driving around in the country there wasn’t much to do within the city, besides football games and basketball games. Other than that, there wasn’t much hitting on entertainment life. The closest cities that that had entertainment, which is like maybe movie theaters, malls and a lot of times food, and the dining was Oklahoma City, actually. So it’s about a 2 1/2 hour drive to certain parts of the city. That was really the closest town I felt was a good option.
-Hansom
The Great Outdoors
What is little known about our fair state, is that we do actually have mountain ranges. Near Lawton there are there’s a mountain range called the Wichita Mountains and people living in OKC often make a day trip to go down and hike in the Wichita Mountains. Another favorite mountain range is the Arbuckle Mountains which are located in Davis, Oklahoma and they contain Turner Falls, which is a pretty cool waterfall and it has great hiking trails too.
Cost of Living
The cost of living in Oklahoma is definitely a pro. It’s one of the biggest reasons people end up moving here and staying here. The average cost of living in Oklahoma City is 14% lower than the national average, which in some cases outside of OKC, is even lower than that. Housing is incredibly inexpensive compared to the national averages. For instance, the median home price at this time in California is $571,000 and the median home price in Oklahoma is $155,000. Obviously that’s a huge difference!
Braum’s
Oklahoma has a specialty dairy store and that’s one of my last pros here – it’s called Braum’s. If you’ve never heard of it well, that’s because the dairy farms are mostly located in Oklahoma the Flagship Dairy Farm is located in Tuttle, Oklahoma right outside of Oklahoma City and Braum’s doesn’t deliver more than three hours away from any of its dairy farms. Braum’s describes itself as the only major ice cream maker to still milk its own cows so you know you’re getting a fresh product. And it’s so incredibly inexpensive! You can leave the store with ice cream in hand for less than $5, typically.
Room to Grow
The last pro that I’ll list here about Oklahoma is the space. Seriously, there is so much space! It’s a state filled with mom-and-pop farms and ranches. People move here to get their own little slice of heaven. Whether it be one acre or 1,000 acres, land is still relatively inexpensive and there are enough cities to really get what you need. One of the things I tell people who are interested in moving to Oklahoma is that the cities are sprawling – the sign that says “Welcome to Oklahoma City” on the east side of town, is literally in the middle of a cow pasture.
Oklahoma is a great place to live! If you have any questions or comments please feel free to reach out! I have more videos about real estate in Oklahoma and you can visit our channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU_DdsOpSozPlILp7e41bAw
Call or message Marcie: 918.691.8982 | [email protected]
