Questions about OKC and Oklahoma (Tulsa, Norman: crime, job market, living in)

[Repubocrat]

I am currently living in Des Moines, Iowa, and although I love it here, I am not sure if I want to live here for the rest of my life. I will be finishing my Masters at Iowa State soon and I have been thinking about moving to OK or TX.

What I am looking for is a rural lifestyle similar to what we have here in Iowa minus the cold.

I guess, what I want is a rural property with acreage about 20-30 miles from the city, I realize OKC is bigger than Des Moines but I really hate traffic, crime and all the other BS associated with big city living.

How is the traffic in OKC? Here in Des Moines, it is very easy, I can go from West to East in about 20 minutes and hardly ever encounter bump to bump traffic even during rush hour.

Also, I really like small towns with character, I have not been to OKC yet, but I kind of like the Route 66 towns like El Reno but it seems a bit far, maybe Mustang or Yukon would be better choices? If all possible, I would like to live in the boonies, even on a dirt road, it would not bother me, as long as I would have a relatively easy commute into the city.

Also, how is the job market in OKC? Here in Des Moines, our job market is very good and we have a very low unemployment rate, from what I read, OKC is doing a lot better than other parts of the country. Anyways, I will be visiting OKC probably in the next month but would love to hear some suggestions about the area

[fromdust]

traffic is easy breezy here my friend. yukon sits right up against okc,and mustang is a bit west of yukon. a town with charm i guess would be gutherie. this town is north of edmond.

[ou_norman]

Northeast OKC has a lot of really rural and undeveloped areas, and small suburban towns like Jones or Choctaw, within easy driving distance of downtown and the rest of the north side. The northwest part of the metro, and southern Logan County, also have very rural areas that have good connections to highways going into the city. All the areas on the fringe do have the risk of being developed though.

Compared to Des Moines, OKC traffic is probably about the same and I think we have a more efficient highway system because there are more interstate-level routes. Des Moines has the big loop with 235 through the middle, OKC kind of has a grid of major highways that makes for convenient routes to most points. West to east straight through the urban area is probably 25-30 minutes, north to south is about an hour. But that's just because OKC is twice the population and geographically bigger than Des Moines, probably not because our traffic is any worse.

[SoCal 1630]

You can really go any direction out from OKC and find peaceful, livable rural areas. The one I would personally like the least is south along I-35, running through Norman. But others might find that just suits them.

If you're not especially familiar with OKC, one good tip is that the easy commutes into it are over I-35, I-40, I-44, and a couple of state highways (like State 3 to the northwest, which runs through NW OKC as the "Northwest Highway"). Guthrie, mentioned above, is off I-35. El Reno is off I-40, Mustang on improved SH 152 that links directly from the OKC freeway system. Etc.

I agree that the Jones area, and northeast generally, offer a lot of rural living pretty close to the City. It depends on how close you want to be. You won't be wasting time to check them out and just see how they feel to you. I predict they'll be a lot more built up in 15-20 years, and you may want to look further out if you want rural to stay rural.

For comparison, you could try something like driving along "Edmond Road" across NW OKC. 20 years ago it had hardly anything along it when you got west of Western Avenue, which runs N-S. Road narrow, pitted, nothing but grass and fences. You could go a long way without even seeing a stop sign. Today's it's built up for miles. If you go out south through OKC you find the same thing. People who lived out near, say, SW 134th and May Ave 15 years ago would have a hard time recognizing the area now. It used to be the boonies. Not any more. The Jones area is similarly close to where the city is moving outward.

So you may want to look a little further out. East and West of the City have a different feel to them. East is leafier and greener as you go out north and east. Rolling hills. West is flatter and looks more "western" the further out you go. More ochres and browns with the fiery red dirt, scrub oaks, etc.

You might be interested in looking as far out as Chickasha to the southwest (I-44), Arcadia-Chandler to the northeast (I-44), or Kingfisher-Okarche to the northwest (SH-3). I like all those areas. They're all pretty accessible from the surrounding countryside and a relatively easy commute to OKC. Another possibility is Shawnee-Tecumseh, east of OKC on I-40. You need to go that far east to get past the built-up suburbs of Midwest/Del City.

If I had to pick one? It's a tough choice but I think I'd go out past Okarche and Kingfisher. Those two are more built-up now than they were 20 years ago, and most of the time you could do your basic shopping there. But they're the gateway to a really rural part of the state that I just like. Rolling hills, plenty of space, hunting, incredible sunsets, not crowded.

If you like to have one finger on the pulse of local charm and historic landmarks, the area around Arcadia (famous Route 66 red barn) and Chandler is great, and still not all that built up. Right off I-44 NE of OKC, and very convenient to the major suburb of Edmond, which itself has all the shopping you'll need 99% of the time. (If you must hit the malls and big box stores, everything under the sun is on Memorial Road, a very easy hitch from where you would get on I-44.) This move would also put you an hour or so from Tulsa on I-44, and there's lots to do there too.

Growing arts community in Chickasha, SW out I-44. Kind of a mix of dotty little town and growing topsy turvy. Very Oklahoma feel to it. Chickasha and Shawnee are both well established old towns (old for Oklahoma) where people who work in OKC, Norman, or Midwest/Del have been moving in recent years. I'm assuming you would want to live outside of them, but they would offer, like the towns to the north, all the basic shopping you would require. Plenty of land left in their hinterlands.

It's a wide-open prospect! Hope this helps. If you're only there a couple of days, I recommend DRIVING. Take the freeways out of OKC and see what calls to you.

[osugirl2]

There are plenty of areas to choose from that have rural type living close to OKC: Choctaw, Harrah, Jones, Arcadia, Guthrie and parts of North Edmond. However, if you're looking to get away from the cold, Oklahoma definitely gets cold! In addition to being cold, you also get lots of wind so you have the windchill factor to take into account. There isn't normally a ton of snow in central OKC (this year being an exception I might add) but you will deal with ice and freezing rain. The positive side is that winter doesn't last too terribly long and before you know it spring arrives. You shouldn't have any issues with the economy either. The state has weathered the resession remarkably well and the oil and gas industry keeps things moving right along.