Hello Tulsa (Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow, Owasso: crime, school districts, pros and cons)

[Jammie]

Does anyone on this forum live in Tulsa? If so, what are the pros and cons of Tulsa living?

[richardseaside1]

I lived in Tulsa for most of my life and loved it! Tulsa is a great city - awesome people, family oriented, tons of restaurants and good shopping too. The south side of the city is best area especially for people with kids - the Jenks, Union, Bixby and Broken Arrow school districts are outstanding. - avoid Tulsa public schools if at all possible. Housing is very reasonable and you get a lot for your money. Midtown and Brookside are cool areas too - it's the trendy part of town and has unique restaurants and shops. Avoid north Tulsa - a fair amount of gang activity takes place over there. The weather rocks - hot summers and mild winters - tons of sun year round. If you're looking for a suburb - check out Broken Arrow, Owasso (fastest growing city in OK), Jenks and Bixby - all are very nice areas.

[Jammie]

Thank you for the reply. It appears that Tulsa has a lot of beautiful parks and gardens. Your winters look like they're so much milder then ours are. Do the birds stay for the winter or do they migrate even further south?

[Nameless]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Thank you for the reply. It appears that Tulsa has a lot of beautiful parks and gardens. Your winters look like they're so much milder then ours are. Do the birds stay for the winter or do they migrate even further south?

I live in Oklahoma City and they leave here for the winter, so common sense tells me they leave Tulsa.

As far as the weather goes, I for one don't think it's the greatest in the world. Hot, humid summers are terrible. I don't know how many 100 degree days they've had in Tulsa this year, but Oklahoma City has had nearly 40. Now 98 in Tulsa usually feels like 103 for Oklahoma City. So it kind of balances out.

[dcmdfw]

Tulsa is a beautiful city...lots of parks has the river parks system lots of jogging trails and lil areas where you can sit and watch ducks and other wildlife play in harmony! Cost of living is great....plenty of nightlife and very nice restaraunts...I moved here recently from Dallas TX...It was fantastic the traffic can get tumultuous at times but for the most part not anything like other large cities I have lived in! People here are laid back and friendly for the most part but you do have your snoots! All I can say is from what I have seen of Tulsa since I have moved back is very impressive!

[sgrizzle]

Yup, Tulsa rocks basically.

[Griffis]

I've lived in both and extensively all over Tulsa. (And now live within 20 miles of OKC and while I used to work and live there, I'm still there quite often.) Still have family in Tulsa and am there frequently. Crime has gotten worse in both cities--worse than in many bigger cities.

However, I'd pick Tulsa over OKC ANY DAY!!! It's prettier, there's more to do, the surrounding areas are hilly and green, it's close to some very beautiful places in Arkansas. It's just more progressive in general.

OKC in general is more depressed, has less culture and is certainly not as pretty. Tulsa schools are better as well.

[Nameless]

If one more person rants and raves about Tulsa I'm going to go crazy. Don't get me wrong Tulsa is a beautiful area, but Oklahoma City is beautiful too. You know what I've noticed, people in Tulsa are pretty ignorant about anywhere outside their "little box". Putting that aside, Tulsa is still fine. There's just many other places I'd choose over it, OKC included.

[Griffis]

I am NOT ranting or raving about Tulsa. I don't care much for Tulsa at all and I lived there off and on most of my life.

I'm also not ignorant of anything outside the little "box" of Tulsa, as I worked in OKC for 6 years, lived there for 5 of those (in places all over town) and now live about 15 minutes outside of OKC and am there on a weekly basis.

I've lived in other parts of Oklahoma as well.

All I am saying is, if I can't convince people to stay away from this crappy state, I'd at least try to direct them to a nicer area. Tulsa is nicer, period. I know scores of people in OKC who feel the same way.

Tulsa has better museums, schools, parks and recreation, and most of all, Tulsa as a city is far prettier than OKC and the surrounding counties around Tulsa are far prettier than anything within 100 miles of OKC.

Tulsa--not great by any stretch, but liveable. OKC-- woe be to you if you go there.

Oklahoma is hell in general in my opinion. Tulsa's simple the lesser of two evils.

[Jammie]

Nameless, don't feel that everyone is side stepping OKC. One of the reasons that we're looking at Tulsa rather then OKC is population. Actually, we may end up in a smaller town like Grove or Tahlequah. We won't be down there for three weeks so we don't know what will work for us. The population of our town is under 15,000. We'll be in for plenty of culture shock just by being in Tulsa, let alone OKC. I'm not sure why it has the rep of being barren and colorless and no hills, though. I've heard that before about OKC, but since you live there, you would know if it's pretty. Didn't mean to make you feel that no one thinks well of the place you live.