[NatMonty]

Thinking about making a job transfer to the Tulsa area from the Seattle area. We have three young kids all in sports, football to be specific. Looking for advice on the best family friendly neighborhoods(within 45 mins of Tulsa), pros and cons, abundance of youth sport programs outside of school, best school districts, crime rates, ect. I've googled these topics but I thought some personal opinions would help as well as the statistics I've already found.

The neighborhood we live in now are all friendly with lots of kids, the type that does neighborhood bbqs and things like that so I am looking for something similar, fingers crossed that does exist elsewhere


Thanks for your input!

[swake]

You want to move to Jenks

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by NatMonty

Thinking about making a job transfer to the Tulsa area from the Seattle area. We have three young kids all in sports, football to be specific. Looking for advice on the best family friendly neighborhoods(within 45 mins of Tulsa), pros and cons, abundance of youth sport programs outside of school, best school districts, crime rates, ect. I've googled these topics but I thought some personal opinions would help as well as the statistics I've already found.

The neighborhood we live in now are all friendly with lots of kids, the type that does neighborhood bbqs and things like that so I am looking for something similar, fingers crossed that does exist elsewhere


Thanks for your input!

You do realize that would be a huge culture shock coming from Seattle to Tulsa, correct? Assuming you are familiar with Tulsa I would look at the south side of the city and Jenks. Real estate prices are very low compared to Seattle so you might be surprised what you find.

[Griffis]

I am from Oklahoma originally, but have lived all over the country and just returned to Oklahoma from several years out of state, most recently 3+ years in Portland, Oregon.

I dearly miss the Pacific NW. The scenery, the weather, the coast, etc.

But Oklahoma has its good points, and the Tulsa region is certainly at least somewhat more pretty than most of the rest of the state.

Low cost of living and good people are high on the list of good qualities about this state.

Jenks is okay but has become a bedroom community for South Tulsa expatriates. There are many nice neighborhoods around Tulsa. Parts of the area near the Tulsa University campus (South of 11th street) are nice. The Utica Square area is nice (but pricier.) Cherry Street, etc.

I would look in places South of 11th Street, North of 71st Street, and between Riverside Drive and Yale. That's a mighty big swath, but lots of nice and modest neighborhoods all throughout.

Aside from Jenks there is also Bixby and Broken Arrow on that side of the county, but Owasso (on the other side) is supposed to be pretty up-and-coming (and I expect much cheaper.)

I hope you find what you are looking for.

If you do come down, be sure to make a trip through the Ozarks into Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Really neat Victorian town, though pretty touristy. The drive up into the place is as pretty as it gets in this part of the country.

And speaking of Arkansas, Fayetteville is a pretty cool town. Always liked it there. Maybe my favorite town in this part of the country actually.

[flyingcat2k]

Originally Posted by Griffis

Jenks is okay but has become a bedroom community for South Tulsa expatriates. There are many nice neighborhoods around Tulsa. Parts of the area near the Tulsa University campus (South of 11th street) are nice. The Utica Square area is nice (but pricier.) Cherry Street, etc.

I would look in places South of 11th Street, North of 71st Street, and between Riverside Drive and Yale. That's a mighty big swath, but lots of nice and modest neighborhoods all throughout.

Aside from Jenks there is also Bixby and Broken Arrow on that side of the county, but Owasso (on the other side) is supposed to be pretty up-and-coming (and I expect much cheaper.)
.

That area does include 61st and Peoria which is an area to stay away from. They had a pretty bad shooting there in one the Section 8 complexes there. The weird thing about Tulsa is that the good/bad neighborhoods are very localized and sometimes very close. 61st and Peoria is a mile away from Southern Hills GC, which hosts either the US Open or PGA Championship tournaments about every 20 years or so. The Lee Elementary and Patrick Henry Elementary schools in Tulsa are very good and there is a wide variety of price points in the Patrick Henry district. Lee includes much of Maple Ridge, where the Oil Barons lived, so the prices there are higher but MUCH cheaper than Seattle. I have been happy with Edison MS/HS so far. It is the MS/HS that Lee and PH feed to.

Jenks SD is basically run by the football team, cheer team and their boosters so you'll like it. The academics are very good as well but my kids aren't into sports and have IEP's so I wouldn't subject them to an environment where i think they will be treated as third class citizens. I was very unhappy with Union SD when my wife lived there. Broken Arrow is a city of 100k population and ONE HS and everyone who commits to being on the football team by attending practice, gets to be on the football team. I think it is a fine example of sheer Southern stupidity. I'm from a town of similar size and we have 4 HS.

[Griffis]

Originally Posted by flyingcat2k

That area does include 61st and Peoria which is an area to stay away from. They had a pretty bad shooting there in one the Section 8 complexes there...

This is true, and I should have mentioned it. That area just South of Brookside. It's a pity. I used to live in those apartment complexes many years back briefly, before they became low income housing. It was fairly rough there then, but not like what I hear about it now.

My mother is in Tulsa and told me about that shooting.

[NatMonty]

Thank you for all of the input. We were thinking it might be a bit of a "culture shock" when we were reading about the area but I think that is expected when you moved to any new place and since we expect it I think that will help our outlook on the area.

Our kids are younger, toddler and elementary school so I don't have to worry about the high school stuff just yet. Our son does have an IEP but he also eats, sleeps, and breathes football so I want him to have his cake and eat it too

Tulsa neighborhoods sound a lot like the town we live in, very nice and tight knit in our part but if you go a few miles up the road it is a ball of trouble. Sadly, I suppose that is everywhere.

We definitely want to stay away from apartment living, with three kids and two dogs a house is a must. I was reading about communities with trails and a pool, that would be ideal!! We will just be renting because this is the start to his management transition so more moves will be in the future and I don't want to have to worry about selling. Anyone know of any reputable rental agencies??

Thanks again!!

[Griffis]

Originally Posted by NatMonty

Thank you for all of the input. We were thinking it might be a bit of a "culture shock" when we were reading about the area but I think that is expected when you moved to any new place and since we expect it I think that will help our outlook on the area.

Our kids are younger, toddler and elementary school so I don't have to worry about the high school stuff just yet. Our son does have an IEP but he also eats, sleeps, and breathes football so I want him to have his cake and eat it too

Tulsa neighborhoods sound a lot like the town we live in, very nice and tight knit in our part but if you go a few miles up the road it is a ball of trouble. Sadly, I suppose that is everywhere.

We definitely want to stay away from apartment living, with three kids and two dogs a house is a must. I was reading about communities with trails and a pool, that would be ideal!! We will just be renting because this is the start to his management transition so more moves will be in the future and I don't want to have to worry about selling. Anyone know of any reputable rental agencies??

Thanks again!!

Afraid I don't know about rental agencies in the area.

And I don't blame you about apartment living.

Not sure what your budget is, but I always thought the area between 36th and 46th between Yale and Harvard had some nice, modest homes. Walkable neighborhoods. And as far as I know it's not a rough area. It certainly wasn't when I was living around there. This would be around the Edison High School district (I know you're not near worrying about HS yet...)

A little bit further north, around 26th and Yale there is a cool housing edition from the 50s done in what we'd today call retro-futuristic style. It was the first housing edition in the country with central heat and air standard. I've always dug that neighborhood.

[Jrsygrl51]

I just moved here from NJ, I found a great rental out of Tulsa World paper, 2600 sq ft for 1200. by owner. We love it.

[NatMonty]

Thank you!