[turn-n-burn]

Hi there! I was just curious about the crime in Okmulgee, and surrounding towns. I live in Iowa, and it's pretty quiet here. Oklahoma has warmer weather, horses and more things to do in general than Iowa. My husband would like to go after a job in Okmulgee and I just want to make sure it's a safe place to raise a family. I want to be able to walk around town with my kids and feel completely safe. What is the rent around there for lets say a 2 bedroom house or apartment? Thank you very much.

[Goodpasture]

No idea what the rent is, but housing prices are a bit below Tulsa......of course it depends on the house. A fixed up mansion is pretty pricey. One that needs fixing up isn't so bad. "New" houses are priced close to the Tulsa market prices, while older houses are somewhat less than Tulsa's. A small but interesting bit of information.....at one point, Okmulgee had the greatest number of millionaires per capita of any place in Oklahoma and was considered one of the wealthiest small towns in the nation due to the oil exploration in the area. Remember, the Glen Pool that kicked off Oklahoma's oil boom is located 25 miles north of Okmulgee.

Okmulgee has the City police, the county Sheriff, the OHP, and the Muscogee Lighthorse...the tribal police. It is NOT under served by the police. Okmulgee has OSU's tech school which has schools that teach things like culinary arts and HVAC engineering. Excellent school with nationally recognized reputations. It is also the tribal headquarters for the Creek (Muscogee) Nation. Downtown has a lot of empty buildings as well as some truly fascinating historic buildings and a lot of revitalized buildings.

You will also find a lot more racial parity there than you will in Tulsa. This is from two basic reasons. When the slaves of the Indian Nations were freed, the Nations were told to either give the former slaves tribal citizenship or give them land and exclude them from the nation. The Creeks chose to make the slaves members of the Creek Nation, so many of the Creeks you meet will have African heritage as well as tribal heritage. The Seminoles did much the same thing. The second reason is that when the Tulsa Race Riots occurred in the early 20's, many of the refugees moved to the Okmulgee area. Due to the general acceptance of African Americans by the Creeks it was far safer there in the early part of the last century than it was further north.

Regarding crime, I don't know the statistics, but you can check the City-Data.com information and get a lot of what you are looking for. As a person who frequently goes to Okmulgee and who used to live in Okmulgee County, I can say I never felt unsafe, and I frequently left my house open and unlocked when no one was at home.

On a side note, if you are into turning and burning, you will be happy in that area....there are lots of private roping arenas, and in that part of Oklahoma there are more horses than there are people...............

[HeatherDawn]

Barrell racer? You won't have any trouble fitting in there. I don't know about rent. My uncle used to coach football in Okmulgee and they never had any trouble with crime. I have heard there are some rough parts of town there but I don't think it's to the point of not feeling safe walking around.

[turn-n-burn]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I am into barrel racing and my husband is into roping. Up her in Iowa, we get stared at and get weird looks when dressed in western attire. We both hate that. We just want to be around horse people. Plus the warmer weather in Oklahoma is a major plus. I don't handle cold well. Another thing, I was researching Oklahoma a little bit, and I didn't know that the wages seem to be lower there. Reasonably lower. That kinda worried me. But I don't know. We will have to see how this jobs turns out. See what they offer. Thank you once again. I appreciate it.

[StillwaterTownie]

I'd be surprised if people got stared at or get weird looks from being dressed in western attire in Oklahoma. After California, Kentucky and Tennessee, Oklahoma is probably the top state in the nation for horses.

[HeatherDawn]

Yes, wages are lower. I am broke and so is my family and pretty much all my friends. But, we have what we need and sometimes what we want. Country folks can survive...lol I don't know what I'd do with money anyway. Probably be lazy. And drink too much.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by turn-n-burn

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I am into barrel racing and my husband is into roping. Up her in Iowa, we get stared at and get weird looks when dressed in western attire. We both hate that. We just want to be around horse people. Plus the warmer weather in Oklahoma is a major plus. I don't handle cold well. Another thing, I was researching Oklahoma a little bit, and I didn't know that the wages seem to be lower there. Reasonably lower. That kinda worried me. But I don't know. We will have to see how this jobs turns out. See what they offer. Thank you once again. I appreciate it.

It's true the wages are somewhat lower, but the cost of living is lower, too. One of the reasons I chose OK to move to was that I can actually afford to live here, unlike the place I left. Besides, the people are friendly and I like having four seasons again.

[Her Mama]

I wouldn't feel safe there! I lived in Okmulgee for 3yrs and our house was broken into 3x and the police didn't even make an effort to get our stuff back or make an arrest! The middle school is scary..there are bars on the windows and the kids have to walk thru metal detectors! There is a lot of gang activity in Okmulgee

[okpondlady]

I live in Beggs which is about 10/12 miles north of Okmulgee. I have been there in the daytime and evening both but mainly driving not walking. It seems to be a pretty descent place to me. I have lived in this part of Oklahoma for most of my life and only ever heard of 1 really bad thing happening in that area and it was in Weleetka I think 3 years ago they had some kids murdered. It's like many other places.... it depends on how you live, the rep you get, and where you go. I think even the smallest town has "a bad part of town."

[kiMarsha]

I kinda agree with HerMama.. in that it is a lot more unsafe living in town than it is in the country. I am from there, My family left there in 75' when the economy took a nose dive. My parents were influential and upstanding community members. Had lots of friends there, but they all moved away too, Sad, but true. I moved back so my daughter could go to Preston.. a small country town outside of there..my mother, siblings and grandparents, great-grandparents were from called Preston. You know it's kinda scary when your 16 year old daughter is coming home after a movie and there are cars parked in the middle of the highway and two black guys are standing there with guns pointed at each other. most likely gang related, but I guess gangs can be anywhere even in small towns ...Her and her friends had to take a side road and come home a different way. This was the only bad incident we/she saw. But another friend was jogging at the local YMCA with another girl and two guys came after them and said,"Let's light them up" whatever that mean't, she thought it mean't using guns or something...they were both young adults late teens, and they ran to a friends house they knew lived nearby and he took them back to their car. So this is another off hand experience we heard of..You don't see very many people in the Walmart store that are anything but possibly lower income, and this comes from a woman we know who works there. Maybe people shop somewhere else? She also said there is a high rate of shoplifting in the store. It has quaint little shops downtown and an M&D STAR DRUG STORE that has been there since my mom was little, the Dowrt gifts with /JC Penney homestore.. It has a creek council house museum that is interesting to explore. nice churches, nice lake with playground, swimming area, camping area.. good fishing. Very NICE college that has good curriculum that is predominantly lower in tuition than OSU Stillwater. It has good and bad just like every place does. I still can't ignore the bad like some ppl might want to do, It could use a little TLC if someone with smarts would come in here and spruce things up a bit and make some changes. But , I've heard many reason as to why that hasn't happened here for which I won't expound on. But, in the end, at the end of the day.. its' to each his own and whatever we decide to do for ourselves that matter, wherever our heart leads and our conscience guides us and or makes us feel comfortable in.. is where we will be.