Owasso/Bartlesville (Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Miami: job, housing, diverse)

[seahawksweetie]

Can anyone tell me if there are any "bad" areas of Owasso and if so what are the areas to stay away from?

Also, we are trying to decide between Bartlesville and Owasso. Bartlesville is where hubby's job would be. We do not mind a 40 min drive or so to work. We live in San Diego now so 40 min would be nothing.

What are people's preferences and insights into the differences between Bartlesville and Owasso? We have 2 middle school age kids, both honor students.

Thanks for any info.

[MyTulsaHouse]

I am a Realtor in Tulsa.

Why not Bartlesville? Are you trying to stay closer to a metropolitan area?

There are several bedroom communities between Bartlesville and Tulsa that offer a variety of modern housing on large lots with a suburbia feel. Owasso is the largest and has a good school system with active athletics and decent academics. The school facilities on the whole are newer.

Bartlesville has been a transient city over the last decade with lots of people moving in and out. It was once a stellar company town (Phillips Petroleum) but is more diverse now.

[seahawksweetie]

I'm not opposed to Bartlesville, just don't know much about it.

[mr_alphabet]

Ok, I too am now considering B'ville. I've been there 3 times in the last two weeks and really like a lot of things there. QT! Although the mall is not much, I am used to driving 30 miles to a mall now. What can someone tell me about the churches there? I am from a Christian church background, but the ones there seem small and not growing much. (However, I have not visited any). I am a recently divorced middle aged guy NOT ABOUT to start going to "senior activities" to meet people. It may be June 08 before I move if I do, but I need some input!

Straying to another B'ville subject...I'm watching the paper online and it seems there is a battle in the city government going on. Is this something I should be concerned about? I'm used to small-town conflicts, but a city this size I would think would "have it together" more. Miami started the "code enforcement" stuff a few years back, getting rid of junk cars and tall grass. If you are in compliance, it seems like a good thing, but I detect a lot of unrest in B'ville about the Code Police.

[Sandysaw]

no bad areas in owasso really at all, just a few poorer neighborhoods (generally right next to the highway, 169). no bad, dangerous areas at all though. owasso is a great community, self-sustaining but still close enough that you can drive into tulsa for something new!

[OwassoBound]

Yep, I haven't seen any bad neighborhoods in Owasso at all.

[briansgi]

Owasso has a very good school system too!

[jshaw13]

Both Owasso and Bartlesville are nice places to live. I grew up near Bartlesville and live in Owasso now. There are very few bad areas of Bartlesville and almost none in Owasso. There is a huge difference in the school districts though...Owasso's is quite a bit better.

[steenveld]

there really isn't a bad part of Owasso. Bartlesville if you want a small town charm. Owasso if you want to stay closer to Tulsa. The drive to Bville is boring, please don't waste that much gas. Look into Skiatook also.

[geekswife]

We moved from Broken Arrow to Bartlesville earlier this year. At first I wasn't really feeling the small-town charm but now we absolutely love it. My son is excelling in school and getting plenty of motivation and attention from his teachers, whereas in the bigger districts, he was just a number. The elementary schools send home flyers for church activities - my 5yr old sang, "God Bless America" in her class program for Veterans Day. These things are unheard of in bigger towns these days.

As for traffic - I can get anywhere in town (and even out of town) in about 10 minutes. We attend Life Church in Dewey and really love it. It's not a huge congregation (80-100 people), but the Pastor & staff are terrific.

Hwy 75 isn't that interesting of a drive, but it doesn't seem to take as long to get into Tulsa because there's barely any traffic. Hwy 169 coming from Owasso is a nightmare several times a day. Owasso to Tulsa takes roughly 25 minutes if there isn't any traffic, with traffic, 35m or so. Bartlesville to downtown Tulsa takes 40 minutes if you're going the speed limit - less if you go a little faster.

Owasso has more of the big retail locations & more restaurants. That said, we don't spend nearly as much money now that we don't have easy access to those places, lol.

Good luck in your decision!