Thinking of moving from Maryland to Oklahoma - pros and cons? (Oklahoma City: house, find a job)

crabe.Mamabookworm · 10-13-2021, 09:35 AM

My husband and I are sick of living in nanny state Maryland - we're red dots in a sea of blue - and even a lot of the other red dots are more purple (RINO), if you know what I mean? Or if not exactly purple (RINO), then at least repressed enough after decades of blue domination that they think either they can't do anything to make things more balanced or that the blue are actually okay. We also want to be able to afford to buy a home, and that's near-impossible in MD at our income level. So we're looking into red states like OK, FL, and TX. (Looking at OK partly because my sister is near Rush Springs, so it might be nice to see her in person instead of just online.) What are the pros and cons of living in OK? Where are some safe, conservative areas with good hands-on jobs with decent pay that don't require a college degree and have affordable (under $200k) homes not in a manufactured homes park (nothing wrong with living in one, we just want to be able to own the land our home sits on instead of paying rent)? Thanks.

StillwaterTownie · 10-13-2021, 03:32 PM

The only major pro in living in Oklahoma is lower cost of living. Oklahoma, in my opinion, is best done living in the two biggest metro areas, which is Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Tulsa is more conservative. Rush Springs isn't very far from Oklahoma City. Canadian County which is suburb to Oklahoma City is conservative and fast growing. Except for the college towns, the non-metro small towns are always more conservative than the metros, but may be more difficult to find a decent paying job.

With housing going up everywhere, it's not as easy as it used to be to find a nice 3 bedroom home under $200,000. But there is still a lot of them for under $200,000.

Threestep2 · 10-13-2021, 06:30 PM

200k is not getting you much unless you are out in the weeds. Plenty of restaurant and warehouse jobs all over OKC.

eddie gein · 10-14-2021, 12:50 AM

If you don't mind a commute up a turnpike then you might want to look in Chickasha, OK. You could probably get a really nice three bedroom house under 2K that would be 10 minutes from Rush Springs. Your job prospects would be in the SW quadrant of OKC. Also the oil field is ramping up again and there is a lot of activity around Chickasha lately when they are drilling. And Chickasha is a big enough town that you might be able to find a job there in town as well.

ejisme · 10-14-2021, 11:52 AM

OKC area would be a good choice. You'd get a bit more for you money in Midwest City to Choctaw, with easy commutes into town. Do a quick zillow search and see what you can get. But, be aware wages are not likely to be as high as they are in Maryland. The $20 - $25/per hour job in Maryland might be $14 - $18 in OKC. Look at some job search sites for the area for jobs that you currently do and see if there is a major difference, or if jobs like that are available in the area. Good Luck. Oklahoma is OK (though that was removed from the license plates years ago).

lluvia · 10-14-2021, 01:56 PM

Any new single family builds going on?
If so, what area?

StillwaterTownie · 10-14-2021, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lluvia

Any new single family builds going on?
If so, what area?

Yeah, like in Stillwater on the northeast edge of town as pictured:

Another area of new residential construction is on the southwest edge of town. Stillwater had an unemployment rate of 2.3% as of Aug. 31, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a job there. But it's like a blue dot in a sea of red, since it passed expanded Medicaid, legal medical marijuana and has a Democrat for state rep.

eddie gein · 10-15-2021, 12:11 AM

Chickasha, Lawton (area-Elgin in particular) and Duncan are the good sized towns close to Rush Springs. I'm sure all of them have some housing starts going.

I did some checking and Grady county (Chickasha/Rush Springs) has seven oil wells scheduled to go up soon. It has more wells on line than any other county in the state right now. That is a really good sign that there will be jobs in that area. The oil field jobs pay really well and people who have regular jobs in the area will go out there when those jobs are available. This frees up jobs in town. Also the oil field creates new jobs every time it kicks up.

I'd say now is a really good time to move to Oklahoma if you are going to come here. The drawback is that usually the oilfield booms only last 4-8 years. But if you got here and got entrenched then you would be ok when it slows down.

Threestep2 · 10-15-2021, 06:53 AM

Some of the entrenched O&G folks in my area are now going OTR.
OP posted something about three homeschooled kids and spouse being a barista.

lluvia · 10-15-2021, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Yeah, like in Stillwater on the northeast edge of town as pictured:

Another area of new residential construction is on the southwest edge of town. Stillwater had an unemployment rate of 2.3% as of Aug. 31, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a job there. But it's like a blue dot in a sea of red, since it passed expanded Medicaid, legal medical marijuana and has a Democrat for state rep.

Thanks, Stillwater wasn't on my radar but everything you mentioned ticks the boxes for me.