http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

Interesting results.

One note. When clicking on the link, it automatically zooms in on NYC/Tri State Area, but you can focus it on OKC and other parts of the country.

Wow, this shows exactly what I try to explain about Tulsa, Tulsa is less diverse and more divided with black people. If you look at the OKC map, it looks more mixed. Wow it does look like south OKC has exploded with an hispanic population. Dallas map is interesting, really green in the core rich areas, then it turns into a rainbow all around. Really neat one is San Fran, Red and green, looks like Christmas!

I like this map better. There was one released a couple of months ago that was just grids or cities. This is cool cause it's like Google Maps in that you can drag the image around.

Wow OKC's Black and Hispanic population is about the same!This map is one of the best I've seen!

Select the different map colors, Tulsa and Okc look about the same for segregated parts of the city.

Wow, this shows exactly what I try to explain about Tulsa, Tulsa is less diverse and more divided with black people. If you look at the OKC map, it looks more mixed. Wow it does look like south OKC has exploded with an hispanic population. Dallas map is interesting, really green in the core rich areas, then it turns into a rainbow all around. Really neat one is San Fran, Red and green, looks like Christmas!

Eh, I don't really think Tulsa looks that much more diverse than OKC. OKC just has more segregated areas (Penn/122nd, NE OKC, S OKC). Granted, Tulsa's nice areas are a slightly less diverse than OKC's nice areas. A nice area in OKC is probably on average between 80-85% white, in Tulsa the nice areas probably average between 85-90% white. Hardly any difference.

Far S OKC has a significant Asian population, though. 18% around where my parents live, along SW 119th.

Yeah you guys are right, it looks EXACTLY the same, expect for the fact that on the Tulsa map, the blacks are all the Northside and on the OKC map, they are more spread out in various parts of the city.

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/jbholt1/tulsa.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/jbholt1/okc.jpg

Select the different map colors, Tulsa and Okc look about the same for segregated parts of the city.

^^back out on the view finder and look at OK and Tulsa counties and you will see that OK county is more diverse! I agree that the segregated ares look about the same!

Yeah you guys are right, it looks EXACTLY the same, expect for the fact that on the Tulsa map, the blacks are all the Northside and on the OKC map, they are more spread out in various parts of the city.

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/jbholt1/tulsa.jpg

http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv267/jbholt1/okc.jpg

Look at that area along NW Expwy!I think they have that shaded wrong!Lyrewood Lane is South of NWExpwy off of Wilshire,not North!There are nice neigborhoods North of NWExpwy but South of it along Wilshire there is a big concentration of Apartments and African Americans!I might be wrong but I have routes in that area frequently!

I see what you mean dmoor82, that does seem in accurate.

The only thing I don't like is that all of those areas circled are still bad areas. So it doesn't mean more minorities are living in better areas in OKC. Just that bad areas are more spread around.

The only thing I don't like is that all of those areas circled are still bad areas. So it doesn't mean more minorities are living in better areas in OKC. Just that bad areas are more spread around.

Spartan, I think Tulsa keeps the bad areas contained more and OKC not so much. When I moved from Tulsa, to OKC, it felt very mixed racially to me. My family in Tulsa, hate to say this, but the are raciest, my dad told me it goes back a long ways in Tulsa, and that blacks were supposed to stay on the North side and leave them alone on the south.

The reason you see a little more diversity, especially in the SE/4 of the county, is due to Tinker. The military has been desegregated since the days of Truman. I grew up an Air Force brat and I really took for granted the colorblind aspects of growing up in a military town. Also, I feel as a minority that OKC is way more integrated than Tulsa, and I've yet to meet a person that has said otherwise when the subject came up.

To change gears a bit. After looking at that map, one thing that stuck out to me was how low Oklahoma County's median household income was at about 41.8K. It was a bit disappointing to see after all of the "recession-proof" declarations this area's income was still that low; I would have figured this area had made more progress than that. In fact, I could only find one county in this entire region with a comparable population (at least 500K) that had a lower income. That was El Paso County, Texas. I guess that explains why OKC is always at the bottom of most retail shops' expansions.

Spartan, I think Tulsa keeps the bad areas contained more and OKC not so much. When I moved from Tulsa, to OKC, it felt very mixed racially to me. My family in Tulsa, hate to say this, but the are raciest, my dad told me it goes back a long ways in Tulsa, and that blacks were supposed to stay on the North side and leave them alone on the south.

I think Tulsans' attitude toward black people changed on one day that the white people went over to their side and caused some issues. I think the black community up there has gotten really strong and unified, and there are some decent neighborhoods in north Tulsa contrary to popular opinion. I definitely agree with you though, that Tulsa is much more elitist than OKC.

You could take out the whole racial element and Tulsa would still have elitist attitudes. We had discussions like this from the time I was a kid and race wasn't even considered an issue to us (as kids we didn't even know about the racial history). The reason given for the attitudes had to do with Oklahoma City being built in a day in the land run. It was filled with opportunists, poor people, people wanting to make a fresh start, entrepreneurs, Boomers, outlaws, etc. Tulsa, in contrast, was founded by folks from Pennsylvania with the culture and attitudes that came with that. Much more "old money" and people who held onto their oil money as a result as compared to wildcatter/white trash OKC.

To change gears a bit. After looking at that map, one thing that stuck out to me was how low Oklahoma County's median household income was at about 41.8K. It was a bit disappointing to see after all of the "recession-proof" declarations this area's income was still that low; I would have figured this area had made more progress than that. In fact, I could only find one county in this entire region with a comparable population (at least 500K) that had a lower income. That was El Paso County, Texas. I guess that explains why OKC is always at the bottom of most retail shops' expansions.

Those low income levels are largely offset by the low cost of living. Still, other metropolitan areas in this region, such as Austin, have considerably higher income levels despite comparable costs of living. It's probably little surprise that OKC also lags much of the nation in areas like educational attainment.

This is perhaps best seen from a report by the Brookings Institution, which compiled a more comprehensive set of data originally collected by the Census Bureau (from the 2009 American Community Survey) for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the US.

For median household income, the OKC MSA ranked 85th out of 100. Tulsa was 73rd. For educational attainment (fraction of population over 25 years old with a bachelor's degree or higher), OKC ranked 67th and Tulsa was 80th.

http://www.brookings.edu/metro/StateOfMetroAmerica/Map.aspx#/?subject=4&ind=30&dist=1_0&data=Percent&year=2009&geo=metro&zoom=0&x=0&y=0

Those low income levels are largely offset by the low cost of living. Still, other metropolitan areas in this region, such as Austin, have considerably higher income levels despite comparable costs of living. It's probably little surprise that OKC also lags much of the nation in areas like educational attainment.

This is perhaps best seen from a report by the Brookings Institution, which compiled a more comprehensive set of data originally collected by the Census Bureau (from the 2009 American Community Survey) for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the US.

For median household income, the OKC MSA ranked 85th out of 100. Tulsa was 73rd. For educational attainment (fraction of population over 25 years old with a bachelor's degree or higher), OKC ranked 67th and Tulsa was 80th.

http://www.brookings.edu/metro/StateOfMetroAmerica/Map.aspx#/?subject=4&ind=30&dist=1_0&data=Percent&year=2009&geo=metro&zoom=0&x=0&y=0

Austin is much more expensive than OKC and Tulsa if you want to live in the city. Austin benefits from having a large concentration of high-paying tech jobs, something OKC and Tulsa do not have.

Interesting things I found were the higher % of Asians in the Asian District (I always suspected if there were really that many Asians still living in the neighborhoods around NW 23 & Classen) and affirmation of the higher % of same sex couples in the NW 39 & Penn/Putnam Heights area which is has always been considered a heavily gay neighborhood. Also interesting that Tulsa does not have the same concentrations of Asians and gays. I thought the far east side would have more Asians that it shows and thought Brady Heights and Riverview neighborhoods would show more same sex couples.

Their stats are really off. Check out the income map. That's all wrong.

Those low income levels are largely offset by the low cost of living. Still, other metropolitan areas in this region, such as Austin, have considerably higher income levels despite comparable costs of living. It's probably little surprise that OKC also lags much of the nation in areas like educational attainment.

For median household income, the OKC MSA ranked 85th out of 100. Tulsa was 73rd. For educational attainment (fraction of population over 25 years old with a bachelor's degree or higher), OKC ranked 67th and Tulsa was 80th.


Austin does have a higher cost of living, but they are a bit of the exception. Thats why in my quick "analysis" of the map I purposely looked at this part of the country because of comparable COL's. Yes I know that OKC's COL is one of the lowest in the nation, but the examining the difference between this area and others in this part of the world is really a matter of splitting hairs. So its a little cringe inducing to see places like Pulaski County, AR (Little Rock), Sedgewick County, KS (Wichita), Shelby County, TN (Memphis), Polk County, IA (Des Moines) or Douglas County, NE (Omaha) all have higher household incomes, in some cases significantly higher, even with comparable COL's.

Austin does have a higher cost of living, but they are a bit of the exception. Thats why in my quick "analysis" of the map I purposely looked at this part of the country because of comparable COL's. Yes I know that OKC's COL is one of the lowest in the nation, but the examining the difference between this area and others in this part of the world is really a matter of splitting hairs. So its a little cringe inducing to see places like Pulaski County, AR (Little Rock), Sedgewick County, KS (Wichita), Shelby County, TN (Memphis), Polk County, IA (Des Moines) or Douglas County, NE (Omaha) all have higher household incomes, in some cases significantly higher, even with comparable COL's.

You make an excellent point. Has anyone ever come up with a some kind of ratio system for Cost Of Living versus Household Income? I'm sure it has been done, but if not, it should be. Good thoughts, adaniel.

This all looks very familiar to me and I believe it was in a previous thread. I'm not going to take time looking for it but I definitely remember seeing the maps here before.

I lied. I looked for it anyway and here is the previous thread about this map.

http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=23166&highlight=race+ethnicity+map

You make an excellent point. Has anyone ever come up with a some kind of ratio system for Cost Of Living versus Household Income? I'm sure it has been done, but if not, it should be. Good thoughts, adaniel.

It doesn't really matter for retail. Even if you're paying more or less or who cares for housing, the bottom line is that retailers charge the same for an item at all their locations and wouldn't be too excited about having to adjust their prices just to enter the OKC market. $28,000 in OKC is $28,000 in New York, when it comes to retail.

Those low income levels are largely offset by the low cost of living. ....

Tying in with Spartan's point about retail prices being the same, I have always thought the "OK has such a low cost of living" statement to be BS. Gasoline, groceries, pretty much all retail, cars, restaurant meals, almost anything you buy costs the same here as it does everywhere else in the USA (generally). Utilities aren't that much cheaper than in other cities, I've found. I have no idea about property taxes since we currently rent (hoping to change that soon, though). So the only thing that I believe that's *really* lower than in other places is housing, which could be substantial, but that's nowhere near the "everything's cheaper in OK" that a huge amount of people believe.

Also found out that the cost-of-living calculators on the web are about 2-3 (or more) quarters out of date, so if you use one of them, be sure to check the disclaimers...

It doesn't really matter for retail. Even if you're paying more or less or who cares for housing, the bottom line is that retailers charge the same for an item at all their locations and wouldn't be too excited about having to adjust their prices just to enter the OKC market. $28,000 in OKC is $28,000 in New York, when it comes to retail.

Not entirely true. You get a much bigger volume/demand for certain items depending on the location. Moreover, in places of higher demand, you have more competition. You also have more or less overhead costs, depending. In a given city it doesn't make all that much difference but there is a world of difference in costs, depending on the item, between here and NYC, for example.

The only thing that makes that true is that, okay, we have Wal-Mart and Lower Manhattan might not. If you are out late one night in NYC or Chicago and go to get some items from the Walgreens at the nearest intersection, the price on a bottle of Tums and a bag of chips will be the exact same. Same goes for any item in there.

When you go shopping, the Old Navy and GAP have the exact same prices as the ones in OKC. H&M is even cheaper. If OKC had better shopping, it would be just as expensive. Gas is actually the same price too, the only difference is that IL has a much higher gas tax than OK, second lowest in the nation. Actually, St Louis is a considerably more urban and more expensive city than OKC, yet they have cheaper gas than OKC because MO has the nation's lowest gas tax, I think maybe 5 cents less than OK even.

The cheapness of housing is also overrated. If you go in the suburbs of most cities, you can find a 3 bedroom ranch house for $150,000. You can even buy the house, put up an Oklahoma flag in front of it, and it doesn't change what city it's in. Kansas City, Omaha, St Louis, Memphis, Little Rock, Tulsa, DFW--all these Mid-America metros have very cheap real estate on their fringes and more expensive real estate inside the cities themselves, in some cases even inner burbs are more expensive (ie Mission Hills, Clayton, Park Cities) if it's a desirable neighborhood (so cancel out a lot of Memphis). The difference is just that all of OKC practically resembles the suburbs of some of these cities. And if what you brag about that you have going for you is cheapness, that's pretty sad, actually.

There are a lot of smaller cities in the Midwest that are even cheaper than OKC, and much nicer and more urban at the same time. Sioux City, IA.. Dubuque, IA.. Lima, OH.. Toledo, OH.. Youngstown, OH.. Ft Wayne, IN.. and so on. Some of them are nice, some kinda crappy, but you can get a decent 3 bedroom ranch house for $90,000 -- BEAT THAT OKC! Lol

There are a lot of smaller cities in the Midwest that are even cheaper than OKC, and much nicer and more urban at the same time. Sioux City, IA.. Dubuque, IA.. Lima, OH.. Toledo, OH.. Youngstown, OH.. Ft Wayne, IN.. and so on. Some of them are nice, some kinda crappy, but you can get a decent 3 bedroom ranch house for $90,000 -- BEAT THAT OKC! Lol

That $90,000 is in Youngstown right... lol. YIKES

There are a lot of smaller cities in the Midwest that are even cheaper than OKC, and much nicer and more urban at the same time. Sioux City, IA.. Dubuque, IA.. Lima, OH.. Toledo, OH.. Youngstown, OH.. Ft Wayne, IN.. and so on. Some of them are nice, some kinda crappy, but you can get a decent 3 bedroom ranch house for $90,000 -- BEAT THAT OKC! Lol

I agree. I like Des Moines...and you mentioned Dubuque...that is one cool little city. The Port of Dubuque district is a very cool little spot on the riverfront. The word that comes to mind when I think of Dubuque is character - it's got it in spades. You've never seen such a lively city with so many things to do in a county of around 100,000. Take a look (http://www.traveldubuque.com/index.cfm).

The only thing that makes that true is that, okay, we have Wal-Mart and Lower Manhattan might not. If you are out late one night in NYC or Chicago and go to get some items from the Walgreens at the nearest intersection, the price on a bottle of Tums and a bag of chips will be the exact same. Same goes for any item in there.

When you go shopping, the Old Navy and GAP have the exact same prices as the ones in OKC. H&M is even cheaper. If OKC had better shopping, it would be just as expensive. Gas is actually the same price too, the only difference is that IL has a much higher gas tax than OK, second lowest in the nation. Actually, St Louis is a considerably more urban and more expensive city than OKC, yet they have cheaper gas than OKC because MO has the nation's lowest gas tax, I think maybe 5 cents less than OK even.

The cheapness of housing is also overrated. If you go in the suburbs of most cities, you can find a 3 bedroom ranch house for $150,000. You can even buy the house, put up an Oklahoma flag in front of it, and it doesn't change what city it's in. Kansas City, Omaha, St Louis, Memphis, Little Rock, Tulsa, DFW--all these Mid-America metros have very cheap real estate on their fringes and more expensive real estate inside the cities themselves, in some cases even inner burbs are more expensive (ie Mission Hills, Clayton, Park Cities) if it's a desirable neighborhood (so cancel out a lot of Memphis). The difference is just that all of OKC practically resembles the suburbs of some of these cities. And if what you brag about that you have going for you is cheapness, that's pretty sad, actually.

There are a lot of smaller cities in the Midwest that are even cheaper than OKC, and much nicer and more urban at the same time. Sioux City, IA.. Dubuque, IA.. Lima, OH.. Toledo, OH.. Youngstown, OH.. Ft Wayne, IN.. and so on. Some of them are nice, some kinda crappy, but you can get a decent 3 bedroom ranch house for $90,000 -- BEAT THAT OKC! Lol

Oh, no, no, no - gotta disagree with you and I have been studying this closely because we just moved back from Northern Virginia in the suburbs of DC and I found this whole subject fascinating. I spent a lot of time considering just this subject while we were making the decision whether it was financially worth it to us to move back home. I wanted to figure out how far our pay check was going to go so have been paying very close attention to retail items.

Husband works for the feds and the locality pay change between OKC and the DC area is about $20,000.00 a year. The difference in housing costs is HUGE and took up most of that but that was only part of it. I found that Cable, telephone, some groceries, day care (about $400 a week), things like chain saws, sewing machines, home improvement prices tended to be higher. Services, overall, were MUCH higher. A fence that we erected back east cost $8,000.00. That was for the back yard of a home on a third acre. A deck cost $12,000.00. Not a big deck, either. My grocery bill for two of us (TWO!) was about $185.00 week (alcohol not included) and we ate out at least once a week. I spent $184.00 a month for cable and internet. We had two landlines - one cost about $75.00 a month and the other about $60.00. My cell phone (basic, no internet) was $135.00 month.

My Virginia house that sold for $350,000 would bring about $130,000.00 here. For that matter, we bought a house for $150,000.00 in 1998 sold it for $350,000.00 in 2005. The neighbors down the street sold the house they bought for $150,000 for over half a million five years later. That house is now assessed at less than $250,000. You haven't seen that sort of thing in this area. The Oklahoma house with five acres we bought when we moved home couldn't be found for less than 2 million in the counties adjacent to DC (assuming you could even find a place like it) and for well over a million near our Virginia home. It cost less than a quarter of that. As compared to the cities on the East Coast, Oklahoma is absolutely amazing when it comes to housing prices.

When we go out to eat, we still look at each other in disbelief that it is so cheap. Yes, you can find cheap places to live and things to buy in the cities on the east coast but it is NOT equivalent in value. "Cheap" matinees are at least $8.00 a ticket - higher at night. Don't even think about buying popcorn - you'd be as well off to take in a medium priced dinner. Our favorite restaurant generally had a bill of $135.00 plus a tip. That generally included three glasses of wine with two entrees and we'd split a dessert. When my kids visit from NYC, they go on and on about how cheap everything is.

Health clubs cost about the same. Prices for car service - OMG, I couldn't believe how much cheaper it is, here. I want to go take the car in for a tune up just to get a thrill. I would spend $250.00 - $350.00 everytime I took my car in - every 3 - 4 months. And that was just for service. I got back here, took her to the dealer and they had me out for $39.00. Same time of service.

Alternatively, women's suits, good bags and shoes were much cheaper, at least as compared to ten years ago when I first moved east. There were just tons more women professionals and more stores carried a larger inventory. Coats are cheaper there than there. Car insurance, while not a retail item, was MUCH cheaper (liability and comprehensive). New cars seemed cheaper. Water and trash pick up was cheaper.

Gasoline in Oklahoma has consistently been much cheaper than back east by a long shot. And I have made that long summer drive to and from DC and OKC for the past few years and there is not even any contest. Out of curiousity, because the differences were always so extreme, I took to keep track of gas prices just because I thought it was interesting. Plus, I did a lot of driving as part of my job (I did home visits, school visits and ran between three courthouses in three counties). I'd take the standard deduction but usually didn't bill for it, otherwise. 400 miles a week was pretty standard.

Red meat back east, as you might expect, is super expensive. "Fresh" fish is cheaper.

Husband rode public transit to work (the train). No real choice - no parking in DC. That was several hundred dollars a month even after the federal supplement given to federal employees was used up. Working downtown, he took his lunch because eating lunch in downtown DC would set him back at least $30.00 unless he went fast food, which, surprisingly, was no more expensive than OKC.

I worked full time as an attorney in Virginia. When he moved home, Husband took a $20,000.00 locality pay cut, I quit my job and we got rid of the house payment ($2,500 a month). We haven't even noticed a drop in buying power.

After seeing the difference in what it takes to live there and here, I get even more steamed at people who think "rich" people who make over $250,000.00 a month should pay more. You just can't compare the difference between here and there. My girl pays nearly $2,000 a month for a efficiency apartment in NYC. A MONTH. THAT IS ONE ROOM!! Renting. She doesn't have a car and that helps. Her boss pays a driver to cart her to and from work so that also helps (no one takes the subway if they can possibly walk - say, 20 blocks). Just the same, my kids drop 10 bucks, 12 bucks every day for cabs. I am going up there in January and my son didn't know why I didn't want to take a cab from the airport ("It's only 60 - 70 dollars!"). For that matter, my husband used to regularly pay $50.00 plus a tip to get from the airport to our house. Just standard expenses.

Bottom line, I completely disagree with the claim that prices here and there aren't that different.

Oh, no, no, no - gotta disagree with you and I have been studying this closely because we just moved back from Northern Virginia in the suburbs of DC and I found this whole subject fascinating. I spent a lot of time considering just this subject while we were making the decision whether it was financially worth it to us to move back home. I wanted to figure out how far our pay check was going to go so have been paying very close attention to retail items.

Husband works for the feds and the locality pay change between OKC and the DC area is about $20,000.00 a year. The difference in housing costs is HUGE and took up most of that but that was only part of it. I found that Cable, telephone, some groceries, day care (about $400 a week), things like chain saws, sewing machines, home improvement prices tended to be higher. Services, overall, were MUCH higher. A fence that we erected back east cost $8,000.00. That was for the back yard of a home on a third acre. A deck cost $12,000.00. Not a big deck, either. My grocery bill for two of us (TWO!) was about $185.00 week (alcohol not included) and we ate out at least once a week. I spent $184.00 a month for cable and internet. We had two landlines - one cost about $75.00 a month and the other about $60.00. My cell phone (basic, no internet) was $135.00 month.

My Virginia house that sold for $350,000 would bring about $130,000.00 here. For that matter, we bought a house for $150,000.00 in 1998 sold it for $350,000.00 in 2005. The neighbors down the street sold the house they bought for $150,000 for over half a million five years later. That house is now assessed at less than $250,000. You haven't seen that sort of thing in this area. The Oklahoma house with five acres we bought when we moved home couldn't be found for less than 2 million in the counties adjacent to DC (assuming you could even find a place like it) and for well over a million near our Virginia home. It cost less than a quarter of that. As compared to the cities on the East Coast, Oklahoma is absolutely amazing when it comes to housing prices.

When we go out to eat, we still look at each other in disbelief that it is so cheap. Yes, you can find cheap places to live and things to buy in the cities on the east coast but it is NOT equivalent in value. "Cheap" matinees are at least $8.00 a ticket - higher at night. Don't even think about buying popcorn - you'd be as well off to take in a medium priced dinner. Our favorite restaurant generally had a bill of $135.00 plus a tip. That generally included three glasses of wine with two entrees and we'd split a dessert. When my kids visit from NYC, they go on and on about how cheap everything is.

Health clubs cost about the same. Prices for car service - OMG, I couldn't believe how much cheaper it is, here. I want to go take the car in for a tune up just to get a thrill. I would spend $250.00 - $350.00 everytime I took my car in - every 3 - 4 months. And that was just for service. I got back here, took her to the dealer and they had me out for $39.00. Same time of service.

Alternatively, women's suits, good bags and shoes were much cheaper, at least as compared to ten years ago when I first moved east. There were just tons more women professionals and more stores carried a larger inventory. Coats are cheaper there than there. Car insurance, while not a retail item, was MUCH cheaper (liability and comprehensive). New cars seemed cheaper. Water and trash pick up was cheaper.

Gasoline in Oklahoma has consistently been much cheaper than back east by a long shot. And I have made that long summer drive to and from DC and OKC for the past few years and there is not even any contest. Out of curiousity, because the differences were always so extreme, I took to keep track of gas prices just because I thought it was interesting. Plus, I did a lot of driving as part of my job (I did home visits, school visits and ran between three courthouses in three counties). I'd take the standard deduction but usually didn't bill for it, otherwise. 400 miles a week was pretty standard.

Red meat back east, as you might expect, is super expensive. "Fresh" fish is cheaper.

Husband rode public transit to work (the train). No real choice - no parking in DC. That was several hundred dollars a month even after the federal supplement given to federal employees was used up. Working downtown, he took his lunch because eating lunch in downtown DC would set him back at least $30.00 unless he went fast food, which, surprisingly, was no more expensive than OKC.

I worked full time as an attorney in Virginia. When he moved home, Husband took a $20,000.00 locality pay cut, I quit my job and we got rid of the house payment ($2,500 a month). We haven't even noticed a drop in buying power.

After seeing the difference in what it takes to live there and here, I get even more steamed at people who think "rich" people who make over $250,000.00 a month should pay more. You just can't compare the difference between here and there. My girl pays nearly $2,000 a month for a efficiency apartment in NYC. A MONTH. THAT IS ONE ROOM!! Renting. She doesn't have a car and that helps. Her boss pays a driver to cart her to and from work so that also helps (no one takes the subway if they can possibly walk - say, 20 blocks). Just the same, my kids drop 10 bucks, 12 bucks every day for cabs. I am going up there in January and my son didn't know why I didn't want to take a cab from the airport ("It's only 60 - 70 dollars!"). For that matter, my husband used to regularly pay $50.00 plus a tip to get from the airport to our house. Just standard expenses.

Bottom line, I completely disagree with the claim that prices here and there aren't that different.

I agree with that 100%, same goes for the West coast and Chitown.

I agree with that 100%, same goes for the West coast and Chitown.

We lived in the west suburbs of Chicago for about 12 years and just about everything Penny said was *not* the case with where we lived. In Chicago proper, maybe things are way more expensive (however, I worked in the Loop for years and some things (lunches, mainly) were marginally more expensive, but not nearly to the degree Penny makes them out to be), but in the west burbs, things (except for gas) cost just about the same as they did in OKC. Comparisons were made in a timely fashion, as we visited OKC often during those 12 years and knew what prices were in both OKC and Chicago's west burbs.

We also lived in the south burbs of Seattle (between Seattle and Tacoma) and saw pretty much the same thing (of prices for most everything being about the same as OKC prices). Basically, I think if you live in the city limits of a large city, you will most likely see higher prices, but if you're just in a large city's metro area, prices could be the same there as they are in OKC (or any other smaller metro area/city).

Anecdotal evidence, yeah, that's just going to be all over the place (mine included)...

My experience is that the cities aren't that much more expensive, except for the fact that they have better shopping and more things to do, which will inevitably lead to you spending money. And I would encourage everyone to use the public transit in the cities you go to..

It is absolutely not $30 for lunch in DC. When you sign a cell phone contract, the prices are the same nation-wide, virtually world-wide for telecommunications. It's also not $70 to get a cab from the airport to the inner boroughs at least if you fly into LaGurdia or JFK (can't speak about Newark, Islip, or other airports), and you shouldn't do that anyway--take the subway.

The big difference in coastal or larger cities is housing!!Without a doubt cities like NYC,Bos,Philly,Chi,Mia,LA,Sea,Por mostly coastal cities have a higher cost of living than OKC that is proven,which mostly comes from housing!Of course it also helps when a burgerflipper in Boston makes 13$/hr compared to 7.25$/hr in OKC,so just imagine the diff. in higher paying jobs!Groceries,Gas,Ciggarettes,utilities etc... on avg. even if a little higher are still higher in most other LARGE cities and all that plus housing adds up!Make NO doubt about it,that living in OKC is much easier than living in about 90%of other Large metro's even with the diff. in pay rate because of housing!