Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

TheLoneBear
Living in Oklahoma City
2y ago
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Cost of living is super cheap. Housing costs are on the rise but nothing compared to larger cities. You can typically afford a safe home as a single person with costs going up as you get closer to the city. You will be safe walking in 95% of the city and you pretty much have to be seeking out bad areas to stumble into them.

You will need a car. As others have said the public transport is pretty much nonexistent.

OKC is the most liberal area of Oklahoma and if you're downtown even more so.

There's not quite as much to do as a bigger city but I always say if you're not having fun it's your fault, not the city's. There are many different areas of downtown that offer a diversity of nightlife. We have some of the best breweries in the middle of the county.

Depending what you're into, we have excellent golf courses, D&D groups, hunting, fishing, mountain biking, a large road-biking community, etc.

The people here are generally very nice and welcoming. Generalizing, there are some Trump nuts you'll run across especially in the surrounding rural areas and suburbs but I can honestly say that it doesn't come up in daily conversations around the city very much. Our governor is not great but looks like he'll be voted out next term. Our mayor is pretty progressive for a red state and he is very focused on improving life in the city.

puppatea
Living in Oklahoma City
2y ago
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I’ll just speak to the part about being single and in your 30s since I think other posters have pretty well explained the pros and cons of Oklahoma. I agree with all the pros and can see the perspective of the cons.

The dating scene can be rough here, especially depending on your sexual orientation. However, I’ve yet to meet or talk to anyone from another state that hasn’t said it’s also hard elsewhere. I think you will run into different problems here than other places while dating, but it doesn’t mean it’s more difficult per se. I grew up in evangelical circles so I was convinced if I wasn’t married by 25 then I wouldn’t have anyone to hang out with or do things with. This is far from the truth. There are a lot of people in their 30s here who are married and single and value friendships highly, so if you’re open and work at it, you can create a really nice social circle.

I saw another poster say people don’t like when you approach them here. I have never experienced that once in my 32 years of living in Oklahoma. I approach people all the time and people approach me all the time as well.

Also, if you’re religious there’s plenty of places for that. And if you’re not, there’s a growing population of young people who aren’t, in addition to the mass exodus of the church over the last 2 years. A lot of people I know who were very into church have no desire to step into one again.

emijay82
Living in OKC
5mo ago
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If you look at the OK state parks, quite a few have trails, from beginner to more intermediate. If you are looking for mountains, we don't have much of those. But our state parks do have beautiful and/or interesting trails. Plenty of places to hike in Roman Nose and Lake Thunderbird, both of which are pretty close to the metro area. I have lived in Norman for 17 out of the last 19 years, all as an adult working full time. I enjoy Norman. Schools are decent, we have a free immersion language charter school, walking on and around campus and campus corner is really pretty most of the year. We have some super cold weather, or snow or ice, but the majority of winter is not crazy terrible. This year, we started having weather in the mid 80s off and of in mid to late February, and while we have had some front blow through with cold weather, they did not last long.

I am moving for reasons unrelated to Oklahoma in about a month. But OP should feel free to reach out to me about what to do for outdoors activities.

One_Preference6619
Living in OKC
6mo ago
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I think okc is a great city. The best part abt it, is it's growing rapidly rn. This is the perfect time to get situated be4 prices skyrocket even more then they have recently. It's on the verge of exploding: it just became the 20th biggest city in the US, we're getting a new arena, many buildings r being planned for here, the thunder r doing better than ever, we have hidden gems of restaurants. It isn't dallas level yet, but I think it will be very soon. That's why I think while right now you'd probably enjoy dallas more, okc is building for the very bright future currently.

Paseo is a good choice if u wanna live near clubs/nightlife and close to downtown and wanna be in a good area. If u wanna be in a currently gentrifying area that will be worth alot more pretty soon, I'd recommend plaza district as someone else mentioned (metro park I believe they said). It's not a war zone or anything, just an older part of town that has my favorite district in the city personally.

As someone who's lived in almost every section considered the "hood", ppl avoid south of the river generally, and the east around the capitol. Ppl also see del city as a warzone, but as someone who grew up there it isn't too terrible as long as u avoid the apartments there. Renters rights r terrible here, so don't rent cheap. Trust me, this is rule #1 (prob for any city rlly).

I hope you choose to live in our city. I've lived in dallas and am the same age as u and ur friends and prefer okc for the friendlier ppl/smaller community feel. Good luck my friend

Pros & Cons of Living in Oklahoma City