to live in oklahoma

dottimur · Jul 25, 2006

You can google "Cost of living in Oklahoma" and other questions too that might help. Please see http://www.oksenate.gov/publications/issue_papers/cost_of_living/sld001.htm

for cost of livng. Cost of living in OK is lower than the national averages.

OK has fairly good weather except for the tornados in the spring. Our weather is now very hot (to 104 degrees F) lately and very humid which adds to the challenge of hotness.

I am a native Oklahoman and I live in Tulsa. I like living in OK, especially in Tulsa. I am a nursing student and I cannot answer your question about salary but look around the allnurses OK board and you might find the answer. I find google to be invaluable for answering most of my questions.

Good luck, Dotti

Persnicketier · Jul 25, 2006

Bestplaces.net is also a good place to get that kind of information. You can compare the cost of living, schools, weather, etc. with other places. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I think it's pretty reliable.

Like Dotti said, it can get hot here in the summer, but we have more mild winters. Personally I love living here, and have my whole life. Good luck with the move!

BabyRN2Be · Jul 26, 2006

If you love temps above 100F on a regular basis in summer, you'd like it here. To say nothing of the humidity that accompanies the heat. Also, in Oklahoma it does not cool down after sunset. The high temp is reached at 5pm. At 10pm it is easily 90+F. In other states I've lived in, the temp went down as soon as the sunset. Not here in Oklahoma.

The other extreme: while we haven't had as much snow as we used to get, it does get quite cold here with some snowfall.

Spring weather: Tornadoes. Although I'm the strange type that has been known to go tornado chasing (my previous adventures have been discussed in this forum :)), it's really not so bad. Needless to say that severe thunderstorms come with the tornadoes and they are fun to watch. IF a tornado is produced from the storms, there is plenty of warning to find cover (usually an interior room, closet or bathroom).

The cost of living is rather low here, gas is currently running $2.82/gallon in the Tulsa area.

NE Oklahoma (Tulsa) offers many types of recreation areas. There are some large lakes, forests and campgrounds which are fun to go see. All within driving range of Tulsa (1-3 hrs depending on which lake you want to see). Our favorite is Sequioa State Park on Lake Fort Gibson. It's a place where we love to take our dog and have some good hikes while enjoying the water.

Job situation: I haven't been able to look at Hillcrest Medical Center's website employment opportunities (I work there in L&D as a professional childbirth assistant), last time I checked there were many positions open. Also at St. Francis Hospital there were many positions open as well for RN's.

You can check out salary.com for salaries, but I believe the site indicates a "higher than actual" wage.

While it's not my first choice of state to live in, it is pretty nice. It all depends on what you like.

LanaBanana · Jul 27, 2006

While Oklahoma is ranked low on the payscale for nurses *(47th in US), I think we have a pretty low cost of living. It's hot, it's cold, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of temps that are just right! But you know what? I love it here!

By the way, like everywhere else we just had a jump in gas price to $2.93

BabyRN2Be · Jul 28, 2006

While Oklahoma is ranked low on the payscale for nurses *(47th in US), I think we have a pretty low cost of living. It's hot, it's cold, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of temps that are just right! But you know what? I love it here!
By the way, like everywhere else we just had a jump in gas price to $2.93

I agree with Lana. We usually don't have a run of moderate temperatures. It either goes from really hot to pretty cold and vice versa. I guess that Tulsa is OK, there are MANY other US cities I would not like to live in. Fall is my favorite time in Tulsa. We don't get the glorious colors from the trees like you might see in the east (it's because usually we don't get enough rain in the summer), but when we do get enough rain, it is pretty. At that time it's a great time to ride out on one of the area lakes and see the trees.

Yeah, Lana, I noticed the gas change. It was $2.82 when I went in to work out, and then it was $2.93 when I left. Just this morning on Fox News it was announced that the oil and gas companies had made their 2nd largest profit for the second quarter. How did they celebrate? They raised our gas prices by 9 cents!!! :angryfire

The more this goes on, my husband thinks about buying a hybrid.