OKC vs. Omaha? (Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Bethany: hotel, income, diverse)

[jm31828]

Hello again,

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to gain somewhat of a picture of your city now as I won't have the chance to get down there and look around for a couple more months. My question is this- I know that the Omaha metro area is quite a bit smaller than OKC's (750,000-800,000 vs. 1.2 million), but have any of you spent time in both places to get a feeling for any similarities and differences? I am curious if OKC has a "bigger", busier feeling to it with more happening on a regular basis and more to do (more shopping centers, more entertainment options, etc)?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[flintysooner]

I've only visited Omaha and not lived there. My impression is that Omaha is much smaller land wise than Oklahoma City. Omaha seems more culturally homogeneous and Oklahoma City somewhat more diverse. Omaha seems richer and perhaps a little more sophisticated. Oklahoma City feels more raw and wild to me. Oklahoma City has more things to do and I do think Oklahoma City seems to have more vitality than does Omaha. Omaha is a lot colder and has a lot more snow - at least to me it does.

I really like Omaha a lot though so don't think I'm trying to disparage by any means.

And if you go to Omaha at the wrong time you can't find a hotel room.

[jm31828]

You're right about the cold and snow- that's partially why we want to get out of this area. We live about 45 minutes from Omaha in Lincoln, and it is a bit of a bummer having that as our only "big city" in the area because it is really not all that big, and doesn't have a whole lot more to do than Lincoln does- I guess meaning that I don't think it has tipped over to the point of a major city, like I believe OKC is (of course having that much more population helps

And don't worry, I take no offense to any negative comments about Omaha- an honest comparison is what I was hoping for.

[Secret Samadhi]

I wish I could help, but I've never been to Omaha.

[Nameless]

It's sad, I've been to 42 states and Nebraska is the closest state I've never been too. It's only 300 miles due north of me. I've never even been north of I-70 in Kansas except for the on ramp to I-70 west from 135 where you have to go over 70 first

[peggydavis]

My daughter has a friend in Omaha she visited last summer. She thought Omaha was a lot more like Tulsa than OKC.

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by jm31828

Hello again,

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to gain somewhat of a picture of your city now as I won't have the chance to get down there and look around for a couple more months. My question is this- I know that the Omaha metro area is quite a bit smaller than OKC's (750,000-800,000 vs. 1.2 million), but have any of you spent time in both places to get a feeling for any similarities and differences? I am curious if OKC has a "bigger", busier feeling to it with more happening on a regular basis and more to do (more shopping centers, more entertainment options, etc)?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

I'm a Ex-Tulsan transplant living in California , my wife family on her Fathers side lives in Milwaukee and she also has some family in Minneapolis Minnesota , so everytime that I go back that way I spend half a day in Omaha: Now the vast majority of my family live in Tulsa , but I have a Aunt and Uncle and Cousins and nieces in Oklahoma City.There's simply no comparison between the two cities.Perhaps Omaha wants to compare it self to OKC because it's going World Class City Renaissance City at this time , but
Tulsa Oklahoma is really more like Omaha Nebraska...: Omaha is a really compact city of about 118 square miles wereas Tulsa is somewhere around 188 square miles..OKC is 640 square mile or somewhere in that
neighborhood...: Omaha has more inner city population than Tulsa ,
but Tulsa has more Metropolitan Population than Omaha...Tulsa is a lot more Vertical When compared to Omaha...However Tulsa city urban Density
is Slighty less dense than Omaha...Last but not least Omaha is a lot more RICHER Than Either OKC or Tulsa...Omaha Probably Has More Billionaires In THE City Proper( Per Capita) Than Any Other American City. And the Worlds Second Richest Man...Warren Buffett.

[Goodpasture]

Not trying to be too much of a SA, but exchanging the Huskers for the Sooner's would make up for any deficiencies............

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

Not trying to be too much of a SA, but exchanging the Huskers for the Sooner's would make up for any deficiencies............

lol I wondered if I'd get a response like that. But no thanks, I have nothing against the Sooners, they have a great rivalry with the Huskers, but we're perfectly happy with the Huskers up here.

Thanks for all the responses on the comparison- I hadn't realized OKC covered so many more square miles than Omaha! A lot of the people on forums such as this from Omaha like to tout it as a major city, comparing it to OKC and Kansas City so I just wanted to get the other perspective. On the billionaire thing, the new list just came out and Warren Buffett has moved up to the top spot now. I suppose his income alone skews Omaha's median income a bit.

[okcpulse]

I would like to elaborate on OKC's land area. Don't be fooled, it's 621 sq. miles in total area (land AND water... has 14 sq. miles of water inside the city limits), but OKC's urbanized area covers a contiguous 243 sq. miles, including its inner suburbs of The Village, Bethany, Warr Acres and Nichols Hills. The remaining 340 undeveloped square miles will see 1/3 of it being developed in the future, 1/3 is reserved for land conservation and a future reservoir, and the last 1/3 will never see development because of its remote proximity.

Just thought I'd pass that along.