Oklahoma City is Number 1 In Recession-Proof Cities

[sethsrott]

In Depth: America's Recession-Proof Cities - Forbes.com

We came in above Dallas, Houston & Salt Lake City!
Keep growing Oklahoma!

[metro]

This is HUGE, spread this as far as we can. Many families looking to be financially smart over having a big pad they can't pay for on the coasts will start taking us seriously, and that in turn brings more business. Spread it to your out of state friends and message boards.

[redland]

What great news! I would have expected Oklahoma City to rank rather high, but to be deemed #1 by Forbes is amazing---and wonderful publicity for the Sooner metropolis.

[betts]

Here's the blurb under the picture in their list:

Oklahoma City, Okla.
Median home price: +8.2%

Unemployment: 3.5% (from 4.7% in February 2007)

Key growth: Leisure and hospitality, +6%; construction +11.5% from 2007

Did someone say something about a recession? With falling unemployment, one of the strongest housing markets in the country, and strong growth in agriculture, energy and manufacturing, Oklahoma City might not have received the recession memo, and it looks best positioned of the nation's metropolitan areas to ride out the current crisis. Booming valuations of Oklahoma City's largest companies, like Devon Energy and Chesapeake Energy, suggest the energy sector is the right place to be.

[metro]

Tulsa aired this on their CBS affiliate:

NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | Magazine Says Oklahoma City Is Recession Proof

I'm sure Tulsans will play this down, but sooner or later, the reality of OKC passing Tulsa as the state's leader has to sink in.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Not a very complementary picture of the skyline. Yuck!

[kevinpate]

well, they did only declare us to be recession proof, not ugly proof

[sgt. pepper]

I'm sure Tulsans will play this down, but sooner or later, the reality of OKC passing Tulsa as the state's leader has to sink in.

Was Tulsa ahead of us on this? Where is Tulsa?, if OKC is #1, i would think Tulsa would not be far behind.

Not a very complementary picture of the skyline. Yuck!

Yes, looking at the other cities photos in this article, our photoi s pretty awful.
They could have picked a better one. Still, we are on top!

[Karried]

Yeah, the first thing I did was email this to all of my out of town friends and invited them to relocate just in case they were thinking about moving! .. ha.ha...

Wonderful news, wonderful exposure, bad pic, but that's okay.

I hope it lasts.

[soonerfever]

Yes they could have used a better picture, but that kind of makes it even better. Here you have these great skylines shots of Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Austin, etc and then a somewhat decent picture of OKC with a BIG #1 next to it.

[jbrown84]

Not a very complementary picture of the skyline. Yuck!

Yeah and it's from iStock! It's a horribly composed (no rule of thirds), drab picture shot in mid-day with no clouds in the sky and no point of interest. iStock took that image and yet they continually reject me saying my photography is not good enough!

[CuatrodeMayo]

Sorry buddy. I like your pics.

[Pete]

To be fair, OKC isn't recession proof, it's just that our economy is counter-cyclical to almost all of the rest of the country.

As energy prices rise, so do our prospects. But of course that's bad for everyone else.

OKC had a deep, horrible recession in the 80's and we're still recovering.


Having said all that, the article is great PR.

[jbrown84]

Sorry buddy. I like your pics.

Thanks. I just really thought that was an awful pic and can't believe iStock would accept it.

[shane453]

I think Forbes always uses that shot every time OKC is on a list.

[OUman]

^Yeah, shane's right, that shot has been used in the other 2 photo lists that Oklahoma City was included in (one was the best cities for commuters and the other one something about cleanest air or something like that).

Great to see Oklahoma City in the #1 spot, this will surely garner some major attention to the city.

[flintysooner]

Reminds me of the time prior to 1982.

[Karried]

Why don't we submit other pics to Forbes?

hint, hint, Jbrown... ? lol

Letters to Editor:

readers@forbes.com

[OUGrad05]

Wow, nice article!

The city is long overdue for some growth the energy crash of the 80s really devestated the state of Oklahoma. OKC has done a pretty good job mitigating the storm in the 90s and is doing very well now. Now I just wish Tulsa would follow suit and fix its problems.

[soonerfever]

Every now and then I look on the TulsaNow Forum. It's kind of like this site for Tulsa. I just came across this thread. Apparently some people in Tulsa (people at the Tulsa World) didn't like what Forbes said about OKC.

Sorry if this has already been posted.

Tulsa World Article:
Tulsa World: Recession proof?

The Oklahoman's Response:
Proof negative: Envy of city's success resurfaces | NewsOK.com

[Pete]

Wow. Both articles were pretty snippy and a little juvenile. Just goes to show this sort of stuff isn't limited to message boards.

Seems like this type of thing is going to get worse before it gets better. When the Sonics come to OKC, I-40 comes down, Core to Shore gets cranking, Boathouse Row is fully developed, etc.... OKC is going to get lots more national attention.

[bandnerd]

Ouch, that editorial is pretty snarky. Maybe sometimes it's better just to let the Tulsa people complain. They're going to do it whether or not OKC responds, anyway.

[Pete]

Tulsa was just named as a Top 10 Best Place to Live (OKC was listed in the Top 100):

Relocate-America's™ 2008 Top 100 Places to Live

[OUGrad05]

Tulsa was just named as a Top 10 Best Place to Live (OKC was listed in the Top 100):

Relocate-America's™ 2008 Top 100 Places to Live

Tulsa suburbs are not bad. It still has a cosmopolitan feel to it that OKC doesn't really have yet. But I'd still rather live in OKC all things being equal. But I'm movin to Owasso which is a nice community and Tulsa is in a position to begin making rapid progress...however they need to get a mayor that cares about the city and not about her power. And they need to start using tax payer dollars in a more appropriate manner. Their roads make OKC's look smooth as glass.

[dismayed]

The Oklahoman's response... OU Football has assuaged our state's inferiority complex? Uh... that's just embarrassing. Why would they write something like that.