Thinking of moving to Oklahoma? The cost of living in Oklahoma can work in your favor for people moving from out of state; often from California, Colorado, and Texas. Hi, I’m Marcie Billen with Keller Williams Mulinix and Rüya Team Realty here in Norman, Oklahoma. Let’s talk about the cost of living in Oklahoma.
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High, Low, Center?
Now, I grew up outside of Tulsa. I currently live in Norman, Oklahoma, so south of Oklahoma City. And I’m going to tell you, we do get a lot of people moving in from out-of-state because of cost of living in Oklahoma. Our cost of living in Oklahoma is pretty low. So people that move in from out of state are usually over the moon about what things cost. However, this will depend on what state you’re from though. A lot of times people are moving in from maybe Dallas, or maybe Denver and we get a lot of people from California. Sometimes with those states you will see a bigger decrease in the cost of living, maybe not in more rural Texas, but definitely from the cities in Texas.
But in other states, you may not see much of a difference at all, like Kansas or Arkansas. They are similar when it comes to cost of living in Oklahoma, but I pulled some data to help give us some idea about cost of living here. I picked two states to compare, and of course, we’re gonna talk about real estate, because I’m a real estate agent. So the two states that I picked to compare were California and Colorado. In California, I’m comparing Glendale, which is a suburb of Los Angeles, to living in Norman, Oklahoma, or around Oklahoma City. And for Denver area, I compared Aurora, which is like a suburb of Denver, to Oklahoma City. Now, some of the houses will be inside of those separate cities, some of them won’t be. We all know that cities have grown to the point that suburbs are kind of the same as the actual cities themselves. And Oklahoma City, honestly, is no different.
Living in Oklahoma vs. Living in California
All right, so in Los Angeles County you can buy a one or two bedroom condo for around $515,000 dollars. It’s kind of the median price there, in Los Angeles County, at the moment. And here in Oklahoma, you can buy a two to three bedroom house (usually a three-bedroom, we don’t have really a lot of two-bedroom houses) in Oklahoma, with two bathrooms for $180,000 to $185,000, which is our average price here in Norman, Oklahoma. It’s going to be a little bit different in the city but honestly, it’s going to be a little bit lower, not really that much higher, depending on which neighborhoods that you’re looking at. So you know $180,000 to $185,000 for a nice 3-bed, 2-bath that’s gonna be around 1,500 to 1,700 square feet in either Norman, Moore, or maybe even Edmond; just some different areas around Oklahoma City.
With a home in Norman, Moore, Edmond, or you know, Choctaw, Midwest City, whatever, you’re not just getting a condo. Living in Oklahoma, you’re getting a house with an actual lot and backyard, compared to homes in California, where you may have a condo with no yard at all; like running down to the dog park to let your dog run around. So a lot, or you know, a yard, in Oklahoma for $180,000 including a 1,700 square foot, 3-bed 2-bath house, will probably have just less than a quarter of an acre of land. And if you’re coming from California, where you don’t have anything, that may be awesome! You can even go outside of the city a little bit more and get even more acreage than that.
Many people considering living in Oklahoma generally want to live on an acre, or 1/2 acre, up to like 10 acres and just to have that space, is something that you haven’t had before in some of these other states. Colorado is another state that we’re really noticing that people are leaving. Denver is a city that’s growing very quickly and so people are moving out of those suburbs and the city itself. In Denver, the median home price is around $465,000 and it’s usually a little bit less if you’re living inside the city. That cost varies for homes that could be a 2-bedroom all the way up to a 4-bedroom and between 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. Denver’s a little bit different than Los Angeles County in that there are a lot of different types of houses, and the houses aren’t quite as expensive as they would be in California.
Cost of Living in Oklahoma : Salaries
So I’m going to put cost of living in a little bit different terms: we’re going to talk about salary for a second. So let’s say you’re making a salary of $200,000 and you’re living in Los Angeles County. You live a great life, you love it – all you need is that $200,000. If you’re offered a job in Oklahoma, how much do you need to make to have the same quality of life that you did living in Los Angeles County making $200,000? Well, you need to make around $116,000 to live in the Oklahoma City metro and have the same quality of life that you did in Los Angeles, California. So Oklahoma is 42% less expensive in terms of cost of living versus California – 42%!!
Living in Oklahoma vs. Living in Colorado
So what about in Denver? So let’s say in Denver you make you know $200,000. Great, you have an awesome life. How much would you need to make in Oklahoma in order to have the same quality of life? Well you’d need to make around $148,000. So, living in Oklahoma is 25% less expensive than the Denver metro area. So do your research on what a comparable salary may be for you, if you’re thinking about moving to Oklahoma, because it’s probably gonna be a lot less, depending on what state you’re coming from. Or maybe if you’re coming from Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri it’s going to stay relatively similar. So just something to do some research on.
Now, in Oklahoma, does it make a difference if you’re living in a city versus a small town? Absolutely – it can be a lot less expensive to purchase a house in a smaller city. For other aspects of cost of living in Oklahoma, groceries, we’ve noticed, really don’t change at all, gas changes just a little bit. So if you’re really not interested in living in the Oklahoma City metro per se, but you want easy access to it, you can easily live outside of it. You’d probably be able to spend $200,000 on a piece of real estate to get an acre, and a little 1,500 square foot house, and you have your own little spot!
Are you thinking about living in Oklahoma? You may want to try searching for some homes that might suit you with my home search app. I love to answer any questions you may have, so send me an email if you’d like to know more about the area!
Marcie Billen: [email protected] | 918.691.8982
