Learn me: Moving out of Oklahoma

Some things I'd look for to compare after finding areas I liked (no particular order):

• Airport serviced by at least a few airlines within 45 minute drive.
• University nearby.
• Crime trends.
• Access to recreational water (big lakes, ocean)
• Cost of living in mid-range.
• Appropriate motorsport options within a 2 hour drive or less.
• A decent hospital nearby and major hospital within an hour drive.
• DMV standards and procedures that are easy to deal with. *We are very spoiled in Ok compared to many places.

z31maniac said:

Keith Tanner said:

I'm just going to say that we've had a couple of staff members move here from OK. They seem happy enough and neither have threatened to move back :)

I actually applied there when I got divorced back in 2015. I aced one test, but messed up on another. So Teri had to pass even after we talked on the phone and I explained what I did wrong. 

I don't know the details of this, but Teri is no longer making hiring decisions :)

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I would love a job like that. Unfortunately, I don't think I could afford the pay cut. That's about the only negative of doing Tech Writing for software vs manufacturing/aerospace/defense. I don't get to go out on the production floor and get my hands dirty anymore. 

But the pay and benefits are far superior. 

I'm a big fan of the SE TN region myself. Marysville to Sevier County.Not a huge fan of the tourism that certain towns attract but I could see living in the region even with it all. 

In reply to z31maniac :

I'm equally happy in city or country honestly.  My vague rule is that I want to be within 2 hours of an IKEA.... not so much for the IKEA itself, but the locations of those stores pretty squarely aligns with a certain demographic and a certain timbre of culture that I like.

I never really worried about the money part.  I know there is this whole cost of living comparison, standard of living thing, but I never gave it much thought.  In college my rent was less than $500 per semester ($1400 split between three of us) for a big house.  Shortly after that I lived in Los Angeles where my rent was $1550 a month and suddenly gas was $5/gallon and milk was $4/gallon.  Didn't care.  I made it work.  I bartended on weekends and worked at a custom/hot rod shop during the week.  I went from there to Southern IN working for a theater that paid for housing and stuff was cheap.  I'm a go-with-the-flow kinda guy, so when I decide I want something I find a way to do the work to make it happen.

I wouldn't say I love Harrisburg, but it's the hand I was dealt and I've bloomed where I've been planted.  I came back here to lick wounds after my divorce while I shopped for a new town and ended up getting an awesome job and (for a while at least) an awesome lady.  I will also say that the $350 mortgage, the $46/mo heating bill, and the $80 local taxes I paid this year are pretty sweet.  School taxes are high, but I'm fine with it keeping the kids educated which tends to reduce the riff-raff quotient.  I live two blocks from a huge school and I leave my keys in the van and motorcycle in the driveway and never lock my garage.

Is there anywhere you have visited and thought "dude, I could totally live here?"  Figure out what it is about that town and see what you come up with.

Way off the topic, but I'll suggest it anyway:  My (now ex) wife and I lived in a camper for many years.  9 months in one spot, 7 years in another, 2 weeks other places.  We traveled to all the places where we wanted to go and stayed until we felt we had experienced what we wanted to experience.  The general mission was to live there A) long enough to feel like a local (like New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Austin), or B) long enough to determine that we didn't want to or care about feeling like a local (like Miami and Evansville).  I'm not suggesting in any way that you adopt the hardcore nomad life like we did, but it does present a unique opportunity.  Right now housing is abnormally inflated due to covid.  If you were to move into an RV, it would allow you to do two big things:  1- capitalize on selling during the spike in housing prices without having to use it all right now buying another inflated house, and 2- lets you travel during the summer to experience a bunch of towns to see where you might want to live.  Then, ditch the RV in your new town and buy a house after prices come down.  For some, the thought of leaving a job without something to jump right into doesn't fit their lifestyle and I totally dig that.  When I started on the road I had no job, but I had a CDL with school/passenger so I knew I could stop anywhere and find work.  At the beginning I did have to pawn a watch to get gas money, but the rest was totally gravy.  Working for 5 days could easily pay for a month of living.  Easy to save while we got the taste of a town.

Just a thought.  I figured it might not resonate with you, but it also might make you salivate.  Never know, so I thought I'd suggest it.

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:

Some things I'd look for to compare after finding areas I liked (no particular order):

• Airport serviced by at least a few airlines within 45 minute drive.
• University nearby.
• Crime trends.
• Access to recreational water (big lakes, ocean)
• Cost of living in mid-range.
• Appropriate motorsport options within a 2 hour drive or less.
• A decent hospital nearby and major hospital within an hour drive.
• DMV standards and procedures that are easy to deal with. *We are very spoiled in Ok compared to many places.

 

Agree with all of the above and I will specify detailed crime trends, not just crime rates.  For a while when I lived in L.A., Bel Air had a higher crime rate than East L.A. partly because of a change in how crimes were reported.  It wasn't that Bel Air had more crime at all, it's just that Bel Air cops got a call every time some rich D-bag saw a Hispanic person walking down their street in a hoodie, while in East L.A. there could be a drive-by with four dead people and no one called the police.  That's a slight exaggeration, but I lived on the border of Downtown/Chinatown and East L.A. and I worked in Hollywood and Bel Air so it's not too far off from reality.

Isn't there a website that rates DMVs of different states?  I know TX was a breeze because everything was handled through a local tax office.  PA is pretty easy.  CA was tons of red tape and waiting, but you could actually get pretty much anything handled, even cars with no title were pretty easy.  NC is a royal pain partly because your cars are considered property and you pay taxes on them as part of your registration.  They also have local notary offices that tend to be insufficiently staffed for the demand.  WV does a similar property tax, but it must not be too bad because I don't hear anyone complain about it.

Another thing to consider is your intended line of work.  Is it unionized?  Does that state recognize unions for your profession and is it what you want and standard for the work?  For instance, if you are teacher in a PA public school, 99% of the time it's going to be a union job.  Moving to Delaware, you'll find that it's not as common and can be a source of contention.  It doesn't even have to be about unions... just take a look at the perception of your intended profession in the new town.  If you are a doctor for Planned Parenthood in San Francisco, perhaps South Carolina isn't for you, if you catch my drift.  If you're an accountant, it likely won't matter much.

z31maniac said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I would love a job like that. Unfortunately, I don't think I could afford the pay cut. That's about the only negative of doing Tech Writing for software vs manufacturing/aerospace/defense. I don't get to go out on the production floor and get my hands dirty anymore. 

But the pay and benefits are far superior. 

Nobody gets rich working at FM despite what those kids on the internet think. My salary dropped by about a factor of 3 when I moved here. But I was thinking more about the area than the actual job.

Panhandle of Florida is way to hot & humid in the summer. That's why we're turning the villa in a vacation rental & getting out of the jungle as my calls it. This was her idea, not mine.

z31maniac said:

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to z31maniac :

OKC is a relatively inexpensive town.  Whereas larger cities (over 250k population) are usually 20-300% higher than median cost of living, OKC is 16% below the US average.  That means you might end up moving from a rather large city to a rural area of (for instance) PA and end up paying more for housing and living than you do now.  Slidell LA is pretty much a lateral move for you financially.  Both the median property value and the median income is similar.  Asheville NC, not so much.  Median property value is almost double and median income is lower.  This is partly due, I think, to the fact that a significant portion of the population is students and retirees.  There really isn't any work to speak of unless you work in the coffee shop where the students and old retirees get their breakfast.  Of the approximately 100k people who live there, less than half are employed.  (source: datausa.io)

Where I live (Harrisburg, PA) would be a cheap move for you.  Houses are inexpensive in general, although they just skyrocketed during the pandemic.  I bought my house for $87k four years ago and it was pretty steady (1.3% growth for 3 years) until the pandemic hit.  Now houses just like mine are going for $125-132k.  PA is similar in political demographics to OKC, but I doubt you would like the winters.  Less vicious and acute, but it lasts 4 months at least.

That website above datausa.io is a neat tool. Search for OKC, then just below that you'll see "add comparison" and you can compare/contrast any city with yours.

Yeah, I know it's cheap here, which is one of the things that kept me here. It allows me money to travel and spend stupid amounts on cars. And finish the sim I'm building in my home office. 

I know I'll have to accept, I'll have to have less house, for more money, not as close to downtown of a major metro area.

FWIW I'm pretty confident the small IL town we lived in had a lower CoL than OK. While real estate is more expensive on the MS coast, utilities/fuel/taxes/vehicle registration/etc. it's basically a wash.

We're less than a hour from Slidell, so I'm familiar with it too. I don't think it's necessarily better/worse than here, but it's much closer to Nola. So from what(admittedly little) I've seen of real estate there, it seems to be higher than here. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I know youre in/around Grand Junction, care to share more? That appeals to me....that's why I why I tried to get a job with FM years ago. 

Well, it's about 4.5 hours to IKEA... ;)

Support community for ranches and oil fields but with some other industries. It's about 100k people and the largest population center between Denver, SLC and ABQ. There is a university. High desert environment so it's sunny and dry and about 5,000' up. Gets below freezing in the winter but not dramatically so and there is no snow to speak of. Summer has a week or two of 100F but it's a dry heat so swamp coolers work pretty well. I do not enjoy that time. Very high UV levels so wear your sunscreen. 2 hours or less to the high mountains, 2 hours to Lake Powell, 1.5 hours to the Moab red rocks. Denver and SLC are about 4-5 hours. World class mountain biking. Basically, a great place to be if you like doing things outside. 

Culturally, it's a bit of a small town that's fairly monocultural although we have a decent Mexican influence to make things a little more interesting. Politically, did I mention ranches and oil fields?

No emissions testing, no rust, cheap fuel :) A car-friendly cart track in town with a time trial series, dirt hillclimbs, rock crawling galore. Road race tracks are about 5 hours away. 

Housing prices are climbing (like most places) but I think they're still around the national average for cost of living. Salaries are definitely not on par with CA. The downtown core is healthy and has a strong main st with no franchises.

Keith Tanner said:

Well, it's about 4.5 hours to IKEA... ;)

Hmmm... I would have to have my meatballs and lingonberry sauce shipped in.

I just got back from vacation in Orlando and even tho the temps were above normal, it was too hot and humid for me (heat index up near 100).

I very much doubt we're ever going to leave the Denver area (all my wife's family are here) but I'd move back to San Diego if we ever do move...

I'm just going to throw something out there. Make sure there is some work available in your field in the place that you are looking to move to. I have had people I know move in the last year and a half and then got laid off and now are pretty SOL. 

With that being said, I would be in the Carolinas or Chattanooga area in a heartbeat if the door was open. I'm in Omaha now because of family and really enjoying it but really Omaha and OKC are not that different in city life but man, my cost of living sure has dropped from the front range. 

note: Front Range refers to the part of Colorado that's basically east of the continental divide. Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder etc. The Western Slope is the other side. Colorado's a little schizophrenic.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Keith Tanner said:

Well, it's about 4.5 hours to IKEA... ;)

Hmmm... I would have to have my meatballs and lingonberry sauce shipped in.

That would probably be Denver. The road racing tracks and autocross events would also be near Denver. All major box stores would also require that drive to Denver. I had the same problem when I lived in Vail. Everything you needed was 2 hours east of you in Denver. I made a lot of those trips and also ended up buying stuff for other people and most of the computer stuff and supplies for my office. Shopping in Vail was the Wal-Mart and City Market in Eagle-Vail, a few mom and pop shops and a few more really high end ski shops. Nearest Range Rover Dealer? Denver. Nearest Porsche Dealer? Denver. Ford, Chevy and Subaru Dealers are in Glenwood Springs about an hour west down I-70. Nearest wrecking yard and source of Miata parts is two hours west in Grand Junction. 

I-70 has lots of elevation changes, a few tunnels, snow and ice during the winter and horrible traffic during ski season. If Vail Pass is closed you aren't going. Your mileage may vary. 

Actually, from GJ it's about the same distance to the Ikea in SLC as Denver. But we never think of going to SLC, it's weird. Other than to buy old Cadillacs and Teslas. I measure our Ikea trips in dollars per hour - if you can't go often, it's expensive when you do.

Vail is a problem, though. If it's not directly related to skiing or apres skiing, it's not in Vail and you're going somewhere else.

Nashville has gone up a ton in price recently and traffic has gotten crazy bad. Just fyi. 

TN guy here, middle through East. Nashville and the surrounding areas are in-sane. Same thing many on here are talking about: Houses closed on in hours, skyrocketing property value, traffic can't keep up with growth.

Go East, and it gets way cheaper. Chattanooga is great, and Knoxville is coming along. Those two are an hour and a half apart, with tons of reasonable property in between. Look up Sewanee if you want a small university town near Chattanooga. Cleveland TN is on the way to Ocoee, but near Chattanooga. All those are pretty near the Smokies.

docwyte said:

I very much doubt we're ever going to leave the Denver area (all my wife's family are here) but I'd move back to San Diego if we ever do move...

Both of those cities are on my list of places, but I'd have to find a different job. Since our founder announced in December we can work from home permanently, I can move basically anywhere, but they aren't going to bump up my salary just because I want to live somewhere it's more expensive. 

I'm loving all the feedback, keep it coming!

bmw88rider said:

I'm just going to throw something out there. Make sure there is some work available in your field in the place that you are looking to move to. I have had people I know move in the last year and a half and then got laid off and now are pretty SOL. 

 

With that being said, I would be in the Carolinas or Chattanooga area in a heartbeat if the door was open. I'm in Omaha now because of family and really enjoying it but really Omaha and OKC are not that different in city life but man, my cost of living sure has dropped from the front range. 

Yeah, that limits me to certain areas and definitely nowhere small. Technical Writing is an interesting gig, we are paid well, but there aren't very many of us and there aren't a ton of jobs. Pretty much have to be in a Top 25 city unless you work remotely.

I'm relatively confident in my current workplace unless I just like, stop showing up. Even the past year we've continued to grow, I'm getting more responsibilities, mentoring new hires, etc.