Texas and Oklahoma... what's the difference? (Houston, Dallas: purchase, public schools, income tax)

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by blkgiraffe

Don't won't to get too detailed, but I'll say the differences outweight the similarities. Oklahoma to me is just an extension of North Texas with a twist.

An extension of rural and suburban Texas. The only thing OK doesn't have is the cosmopolitan, urban atmosphere of Texas's major cities. Even Tulsa and OK City are like Plano with large buildings.

[jr1038]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

An extension of rural and suburban Texas. The only thing OK doesn't have is the cosmopolitan, urban atmosphere of Texas's major cities. Even Tulsa and OK City are like Plano with large buildings.

There is some truth to this, but to be particular about it, OKC and Tulsa share very little in common with Plano - most of Collin County is too cosmopolitan and wealthy for anything in Oklahoma to compare. Oklahoma and in particular greater OKC could be viewed as an extension of Denton, Lewisville, etc.

Culturally, aesthetically, and economically, OKC is very much like a slightly scaled-down version of Ft. Worth. Tulsa has a feel all its own that I haven't really found anywhere else in Texas.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by jr1038

Culturally, aesthetically, and economically, OKC is very much like a slightly scaled-down version of Ft. Worth.

...yeah, pretty much.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by jr1038

There is some truth to this, but to be particular about it, OKC and Tulsa share very little in common with Plano - most of Collin County is too cosmopolitan and wealthy for anything in Oklahoma to compare. Oklahoma and in particular greater OKC could be viewed as an extension of Denton, Lewisville, etc.

Culturally, aesthetically, and economically, OKC is very much like a slightly scaled-down version of Ft. Worth. Tulsa has a feel all its own that I haven't really found anywhere else in Texas.

yes that's more correct. I just grabbed a white affluent suburb so I wouldn't offend any of the oil and gas upper crust in OK that are proud of their chosen neighborhood.

[griff09m]

Thanks all! A lot of what I thought has been confirmed, but I think I have also learned a little more about some real differences.

[Franko]

Yes, Oklahoma (OK) has a lot in common with north Texas (TX). Or, more specifically, west TX has a lot in common with west OK and east TX has a lot in common with east OK. (In the interests of full disclosure I should mention that I currently live in TX and my grandfather was a Sooner in OK. No, he never attended OU. He homesteaded some land west of Lawton in the 19th century and farmed it for about 50 years.) I am generally favorably disposed toward both states.

But TX is more diverse just because it is bigger in physical size and population. OK has no boundry with another country. TX has a very long border with Mexico. OK has no sea coast. TX has a rather long sea coast. OK is colder than TX just because it is further north. OK seems more windy likely because of the warm air from the gulf coast comming into contact with the cold air from Canada. That's likely why OK is famous for its tornados. Notice that the movie "Twister" with Helen Hunt was filmed in OK. So much for the geography lesson.

Are the people different? Likely not. Good and bad, mean and nice, dumb and smart people live everywhere. I think most people create their own reality in their relations with other people, generally. OK has a higher porportion of native Americans. It was called "Indian Territory," which was no joke, before it became a state. The federal government deliberatly settled them in OK as far back as the Jackson administration. My grandfather mentioned that white people were hard to find when he first came to OK in the late 1900s. He married an Osage women, which caused a stir at that time. Both TX and OK have a foul history of being mean to black people with lynchings and race riots. Right now both states are likely no better or worse than most other states on that score.

Economically, TX is a bit ahead of OK in that household income is higher in TX. TX has not state income tax. OK does. TX does have much higher property taxes.

I don't think the choice between the two states as a place to live is a coin toss. It depends on the individual. If you like generally rural areas with cooler temperatures OK has the edge. If you don't mind the heat and like being a day's drive to the beach, TX has the edge.

Best wished whichever you end up in.

[homeinatx]

I agree with much of the above but the differences are being underplayed. TX is way more racially, ethnically, culturally, religiously and politically diverse. TX is one of 4 majority minority states. OK, despite a larger Native American population, is very white. Rural TX with the exception of the Valley votes Republican. Urban Texas is reliably blue - suburban Texas is mixed with a red edge. OK was the only state in the U.S., where every single county voted for McCain in 2008. Dallas and Houston and to a lesser extent Austin and San Antonio have significant, in terms of numbers and influence, Muslim and Jewish communities. The majority Christian denomination in TX is Roman Catholic, not Southern Baptist like OK. North Texas is obviously most like OK, but Southeast Texas has much more in common with LA than OK. The Panhandle is eastern NM with worse public relations. The Trans-pecos is its own weird wonderful event and its high desert mountains could not be less like OK. South Texas is more like the northern Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas than it is like anything else in the U.S. In many ways Central Texas is an English-speaking German colony, particularly in terms of food and architecture. There are more foreign born U.S. citizens in the state of Texas than there are people in Oklahoma, and that is not counting the large numbers of mostly Mexican undocumented workers.

[compSciGuy]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

yes that's more correct. I just grabbed a white affluent suburb so I wouldn't offend any of the oil and gas upper crust in OK that are proud of their chosen neighborhood.

Plano isn't exactly very white anymore. Overall the schools may have a white plurality, but they aren't a majority. Also Plano has a noticeable kid-and-education focus absent in Oklahoma (I know somebody else that moved from suburban OKC to Plano a few years back and their kids went from straight-A students to failing).

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by ETex2

And back under the bridge he/she goes.

It's ironic when people spout off without a clue isn't it. As an Okie whose family has a residence in Austin and have been through most parts of Texas during my travels I have noted that the biggest critics of Oklahoma are the ones who know the least about it.

In general with Oklahoma and Texas sharing as much border as they do there are a lot of similarities in terms of culture and terrain etc, however, Oklahoma shares much more in common with the plains states above it as well as Arkansas and Missouri.

Texas shares much more with Louisiana and New Mexico, However, Texas due to it's massive size, huge population and large urban/suburban centers shares things with other megastates and metro areas that Oklahoma simply doesn't.

[Pooua]

I did enjoy the square dance graduation in Oklahoma (Turner Falls). I haven't run across one of those down here in Texas (not that I look).