[racer56]

We are looking to move soon and had to go to OKC last week to pick up some equipment. We got to spend more time in OKC and the economy looks to be doing very well. We live in SW MO and the only thing you see here is the door closing on yet another business each day. Wife is nervous about being in the headquarters of tornado alley . Told her we get our share here and have lived to tell about it.
We have a printing/advertising business and need to be where business is doing well for us to continue. Without putting another area down does one city have things going better right now? We are looking to be within 30 minutes from the city we live close to. We need a smaller town (wife would like 10k-40k but would be ok with up to 100k population) with good schools. Our youngest son wants s good football team to play on. He lives and breaths football and plays solid. With his ability folks have said he will play college ball it is just where and we want to give him a good chance at it at least.
For us, we are simple folks just wanting to earn a living, live off grid and be close enough to a city to earn a living. Money doesn't drive our lives, freedom and family does. Are there any counties that have no or minimal building codes next to these two cities? Not that we are wanting to live in some shack it's just we are wanting to be off grid or at least use our own power source for the most part and just don't want to have to explain the entire set up to an inspector that most likely has no idea what he is looking at .

[Emery'sMommy]

I think either city would be safe, economically, to settle down in. Okc may have a bit more of an edge as it has changed dramatically in the past 15 yrs.
The best football teams in the state are usually Jenks or Union in Tulsa. They have the most money coming into their football programs and very nice, college level, stadiums. However, in order to go to school there, you'd be living with a higher population of people than perhaps you'd like. You *might* be able to find some acreage in Jenks though.
Sapulpa is another option that's a little more removed from Tulsa.
I'd ask the Tulsa section what high school they'd recommend in a smaller town near Tulsa.

As far as Okc goes, Mustang High School has had a decent team over the last decade. ~5 yrs ago they played at state and were beat by Union. Facilities probably aren't as nice but Mustang is a great small town to raise a family in. You'd definitely be able to find some land here. (We live in Okc but are in Mustang school district) There's a lot of new construction going on but plenty of acreage too.

Again I'm not sure which football teams are the "best" here so you might ask around on the Okc forum.
Edmond's high schools are all usually good, not sure about Deer Creek or Peidmont (these areas both have tons of open land).

As far as living off grid goes, I assume you'll want to use some sort of wind power? Wind power will definitely work better in Okc, especially on the west sides of the city. It's a lot flatter, more fields than tall trees/hills.