Safe Low income housing in Tulsa, Help! (Broken Arrow, Sapulpa: rent, condos)

[DreamChaser81]

Hello

I will be graduating OSU/Okmulgee in December and am looking to move myself and family 2 small kids (6yrs,10 months) to Tulsa for a new start. We are from California and currently staying on campus in family housing. I am looking for SAFE low income housing( apts, condos,etc.), again I am not from the area so we don't know safe areas (if those really even exist) I understand that their will be crime everywhere, I just don't want to move into the middle of Prostitution, drug manufacturing/dealing, or shooting central with my kids, any suggestions would be great? I have also started submitting my resume and have three interviews lined up this coming week so I am to say the least, very optimistic at the moment I have also started researching charter schools in Tulsa for my first grader, if you can recommend any great schools I would also appreciate that. Again, Thank you for reading and have a great day!

Hopeful mother of 2

[susanok]

best school is Jenks public school, safe place is also jenks school area, the South Tulsa, Jenks town. Dont know how much you can pay for home. I have a one bedroom condo needs to be rent out, $500 /month , you only need pay your own electricity bills, cable , tv. but it seems too small for you

[Sorge]

Tulsa is very inexpensive on housing. Renting should be considered a temporary solution provided stable work conditions. Also, I'd suggest looking elsewhere for job. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, for example, are better for growing kids, finding good job, and reasonable on home prices.
If you happen to find a job in Tulsa, stay south of I-244 (or go north to Owasso), also stay away from 61st/Riverside area, and yadayadayada... You'll be relatively safe in Tulsa with your household income of 120-150 and up (concrete 12' wall, gated community, 24/7 monitoring, private school, etc.). Under 50k (for a family of 4), you basically have a choice between unsafe and dangerous places to live. Between 50 and 120, you probably have a choice between Jenks, South Tulsa, Broken Arrow (south of it), Bixby, etc. with somewhat moderate probability to be shot. I don't believe prostitution and drugs can exist in the most moral and Republican state, but considering a constitutional right to own AK-47, you can be accidentally shot but an AK-47 armed downtown buck hunter.

[flyingcat2k]

[quote=Sorge;26582528]Tulsa is very inexpensive on housing. Renting should be considered a temporary solution provided stable work conditions. Also, I'd suggest looking elsewhere for job. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, for example, are better for growing kids, finding good job, and reasonable on home prices.
[quote]

I don't know where you get off saying all that garbage. OK has its disadvantages but MI is certainly a terrible and worse place for young children. Detroit is a mess, the UP and upper mitten are losing population and the state and local governments are bloated. The published number is 9.4% unemployment but probably closer to 15% once the drop outs are included. WI and MN might have lower unemployment at 7.5% (at least 10% including drop outs) but still not great compared to the 5.1% in OK. MN and WI also have bloated state and local governments. If anything, OK doesn't fund government enough considering our crappy roads and poor rural schools.

There are states in the Midwest that are just as good for finding jobs, like ND or SD, with better schools but not those three.

To the OP, I've never seen anything like the barrios of LA or Compton here in Tulsa, or even Oklahoma. If you are a single mother, there is the Charles Page home in Sand Springs but they are very strict about what you can do and not do there. For example, no evening gentleman callers and a weekly cleanliness inspection. The school district is ok and close to the home. If you are overly concerned about gun crimes, and don't buy off on the troll's rant because they are quite low in Midtown and South Tulsa, the Tulsa World published a heat map with them. They also publish a lot of other crime maps so once you find a place, you can see how dangerous or safe it is. I would consider green and blue areas pretty safe as the number of gun crimes in the map is over 3 years.

Seven areas in Tulsa have the most gun crimes, analysis shows | Tulsa World

[Sorge]

[quote=flyingcat2k;26593445][quote=Sorge;26582528]Tulsa is very inexpensive on housing. Renting should be considered a temporary solution provided stable work conditions. Also, I'd suggest looking elsewhere for job. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, for example, are better for growing kids, finding good job, and reasonable on home prices.

I don't know where you get off saying all that garbage. OK has its disadvantages but MI is certainly a terrible and worse place for young children. Detroit is a mess, the UP and upper mitten are losing population and the state and local governments are bloated. The published number is 9.4% unemployment but probably closer to 15% once the drop outs are included. WI and MN might have lower unemployment at 7.5% (at least 10% including drop outs) but still not great compared to the 5.1% in OK. MN and WI also have bloated state and local governments. If anything, OK doesn't fund government enough considering our crappy roads and poor rural schools.

It is all nice of course, especially if you are looking for a job at McDonalds or something similar. However, the original poster is a college graduate and is probably interested in a GOOD job. Oklahoma has virtually no high-tech jobs compared to the most of the country and it is unable to attract high-tech or dot.com businesses. And even if your education is in petroleum R&D or management, many people from OK go to TX for job. All three states that I have mentioned have the mean wages higher than in OK, all three states have top colleges, research institutions, and high-tech firms. Madison, WI schools used to be some of the best in the nation (before Walker).

Of course, it all depends on the specialty of the poster if OK is a good choice for her. But one has to be pretty blind in order to consider OK as THE best state for jobs by default.

By the way, I don't find the roads in OK especially terrible compared to many other places in the country.
However, I would be happier in paying some of the highest state taxes in the nation if I know that my tax $$$ are managed more effectively. But it is hard to expect considering the education level of Oklahoma politicians.

[teakboat]

Oh yeah, hi-tech and dot.com are sounding really attractive. If you are the founding con artist or otherwise significant party to the scam.

I am guessing that the original poster is more grounded in reality and is currently in the lower middle class demographic, just starting out. Tulsa is a good place to be, decent employment opportunities.

[flyingcat2k]

I work in the energy industry and the only people I know who go from OK to TX is because THEY WANT TO! I've turned down enough positions in TX to know that you don't have to move to TX to find work. It is a little tougher finding a job in OK (takes a week longer) and it might pay a little less (~10%) but there are plenty of energy companies in OKC and Tulsa that have plenty of positions open right now. Houston is a humid place with attrocous traffic and I refuse to work or live there and Dallas is only slightly better. Tulsa is also #5 in the nation for energy sector manufacturing not including BA, Sand Springs and Sapulpa. There's plenty of positions here for people who want to work in those industries.

Dot.bomb (Zynga and FB for example) and high tech companies are a bit overrated. Tulsa did have a large IT sector at one point but was wiped out with bandwidth bust in 2000 so nobody is overly interested in that right now. Tech companies are a bit stupid if you ask me for staying in CA when they could add at least 10% to the bottom line by relocating somewhere else on taxes alone. Many are relocating to CO, UT or TX once they figure they can draw the same talent, pay just a little less and not have to worry about employees getting "poached" so much.

Boeing also just relocated a huge engineering office from Long Beach to OKC so if the midwest is so great, why didn't they move it to IL or MI to be closer to their corporate HQ? Because engineers can do math and it is better to live in OKC than the upper midwest. The wages are a bit lower but the cost of living is far lower than those places.

[Sorge]

Originally Posted by flyingcat2k

I work in the energy industry and the only people I know who go from OK to TX is because THEY WANT TO! I've turned down enough positions in TX to know that you don't have to move to TX to find work. It is a little tougher finding a job in OK (takes a week longer) and it might pay a little less (~10%) but there are plenty of energy companies in OKC and Tulsa that have plenty of positions open right now. Houston is a humid place with attrocous traffic and I refuse to work or live there and Dallas is only slightly better. Tulsa is also #5 in the nation for energy sector manufacturing not including BA, Sand Springs and Sapulpa. There's plenty of positions here for people who want to work in those industries.

Dot.bomb (Zynga and FB for example) and high tech companies are a bit overrated. Tulsa did have a large IT sector at one point but was wiped out with bandwidth bust in 2000 so nobody is overly interested in that right now. Tech companies are a bit stupid if you ask me for staying in CA when they could add at least 10% to the bottom line by relocating somewhere else on taxes alone. Many are relocating to CO, UT or TX once they figure they can draw the same talent, pay just a little less and not have to worry about employees getting "poached" so much.

Boeing also just relocated a huge engineering office from Long Beach to OKC so if the midwest is so great, why didn't they move it to IL or MI to be closer to their corporate HQ? Because engineers can do math and it is better to live in OKC than the upper midwest. The wages are a bit lower but the cost of living is far lower than those places.

I totally agree that OK is very attractive for energy jobs.

I disagree on low appreciation you give to high-tech industry. After all, without it we would not be writing these messages. You would not be watching TV, using GPS, enjoying your newer safer cars, etc. etc.

Also, while lower living costs in OK are somewhat true if we compare house prices (and not so much on food and services), it is often not enough to attract and keep qualified (professional) workforce in the state. For some the deal breaker is the lack of attractions (except for megachurches), for others it is a high crime rate. The OP expressed concern about safety, this would be out of concern in other rural states such as Vermont or New Hampshire.

[Sorge]

Originally Posted by teakboat

Oh yeah, hi-tech and dot.com are sounding really attractive. If you are the founding con artist or otherwise significant party to the scam.

It's a good one. Now, turn off your computer, disconnect from the internet, through out your mobile phone, and consider joining Amish community. At least Amishes can have a point if they express similar distrust in high-tech.

I am guessing that the original poster is more grounded in reality and is currently in the lower middle class demographic, just starting out. Tulsa is a good place to be, decent employment opportunities.

This depends on the poster, of course. It would be interesting to know what is her concentration area.

[teakboat]

If she is looking for safe, low income housing, I don't think she is currently a candidate for a job at Microsoft, realistically. That is how I read her situation.

And you are correct about me, I am not feeling hi-tech any more. I like tangible things now (yes I realize that I am posting on a website). I think that if Facebook was the highest and best use of the Internet, then god help us all.