Difference between Oklahoma City and San Antonio (Dallas, Austin: rental market, how much)

[KLGomez]

We are considering moving to San Antonio in the future and I was wondering how much different San Antonio is to Oklahoma City?

[teenwolf80]

Our basketball team is much better. ;-)

SA and OKC are very different. Culturally, economically, politically, weather wise and landscape wise.

San Antonio is larger by about a million. SA offers more in terms of shopping, food, entertainment, etc

Do you have anything specific in mind?

[thenewtexan]

San Antonio is much larger, warmer, and politically and culturally diverse. Oh, and we have the REAL riverwalk. We are also much closer to the coast and actual hills. OKC is colder, conservative, and is just plain flat and boring in comparison to SA.

[ok2k]

Having lived in each for 5+ years, I think you'll find a lot more similarities than differences.

There are pockets of nice places to live (dominion = nichols hills, stone oak = Edmond), the people are nice and if you actively look for something to do you'll find it.

I much prefer San Antonio's weather. I was in OK for the '99 tornado and many others. You don't see this (more than every 100 years) in San Antonio. Also doesn't get as cold in the winter and the summers aren't any hotter.

OKC has done more w/ their downtown to make it livable. I think SA is getting there.

The love of the one major pro sport is equal - but damn you OKC kids do a much better job coordinating clothing. SA's hispanic cultural is much more woven into everything - even though OKC's hispanic population is very large.

Like OKC, you must drive to get to a lot of things, but again, there are pockets you can choose to live in if walkability is a must. Cost of living seems very similar. The hills of north san antonio are much more pleasant than the unequivocal flatness of central OK.

[Rasero]

My family lived in OK City last year, from Feb 11 to Feb 12, on the NW Side (near Hefner and Council). After just the first month of living there, we were already looking forward to coming back to San Antonio. Here are the differences I noticed:

Grocery stores are much better in San Antonio. Well, even though the main one here is HEB, it is far better than what we found in OK City. I was dying to shop at HEB again. Produce is a lot cheaper (and fresher, especially the Mexican produce) here. ALL of the food was taxed in OK City. In Texas a lot of it isn't taxed.

Utility bills should generally be cheaper here. Most homes don't have or need natural gas, since there's not much of a need for heat except a few months in the winter, which is very mild compared to OK City. I have a two-story house, and pay less than $130/month for electric and water combined.

It was actually hotter in OK City last summer than it was in San Antonio. Which surprised me. But you won't have to lay awake at night when the storms blow through, worrying about tornadoes. They are virtually non-existent. Our hailstorms are also not as bad as Oklahoma. It is also not so dadgum windy all of the time (you know OK City is ranked as the #1 windiest large city in the U.S.??)

San Antonio has better bike trails, a la Leon Creek Greenway, which is shaded most of the way, 30 mile round-trip paved trail. I tried riding around Lake Hefner a few times and hated it because of 1) the wind and 2) hardly any shade and 3) the gnats.

San Antonio is close to the pretty Hill Country, the beach, and there is really a lot more stuff to do here than OK City (downtown, Fiesta Texas, Sea World, zoo, Austin, La Cantera, hikes on various trails, etc. etc. etc.) We never really get bored here. And since the weather is much more pleasant, you can do more stuff outside in the colder months.

True, San Antonio is same size as OK City land-wise, but has twice as many people. I think it's about 500k people in OK City, and 1 million in San Antonio. So, traffic is worse here.

Restaurant selection is a heck of a lot better than OK City.

OK City does have a large Hispanic population, BUT it is for the most part immigrants who are uneducated. I know because I have a lot of connections to that community and have seen the main Hispanic neighborhoods. San Antonio has a wide mix of Hispanic immigrants, as well as 2nd and 3rd and 4th etc etc generation Mexican Americans who dont' even speak Spanish, and there is quite a large wealthy Mexican community (more on the North side), who have come up from Mexico for various reasons, mainly the drug war, but also a lot of them like to buy their 2nd home up here and come up to shop, etc.

Whites are a minority in San Antonio, I believe. That's because of the large Hispanic population. I'm white, I have absolutely no problem with it. Whites are the majority in OK City and they tend to be much more conservative and, in my opinion, a little too right-wing in their political views. San Antonio has a wider mix of political views than OK City. It is much more diverse culturally (though not as diverse as Dallas or Austin).

OK City is B-O-R-I-N-G. I know their downtown is being renovated and I tried out the copy-cat River Walk and went over to the horse races, and the zoo, etc., but it is pretty boring.

Downside to San Antonio is the heat, but as I mentioned earlier, OK City can be hotter. San Antonio also has bark scorpions, which I can't stand. But depending on where you live, you may not see much of them (I live next to a large field so I'm always on guard). San Antonio schools (Northside) are much better than OK City's, comparable to Putnam City and Edmond's, I would say. Don't know much about the inner-city school system.

Come on down to San Antonio, I think you'll love it here. We've been here 6 years, minus the year we spent in OK City. My wife wanted to live in OK City for a year to see what it was like and to be closer to her family, but she couldn't stand the city either, we are very glad to be back here.

Oh, one downside is the property taxes are higher here. The rental market is basically the same, though. But again, Texas doesn't have a state income tax like Oklahoma and a lot of food isn't taxed, so it all sort of evens out.

[ggeorgie]

We don't shoot people at basketball finals!!!

[SsnTktHldr]

Dang! Beat me to it!!

[hey32g]

We have a better basketball team!

[BroadStreet/PattisonAve]

Teeth.



I kidd. I kidd.

[badhornet]

I wish San Antonio would get a Vintage Stock like OKC. I love that store. Closest ones are in Dallas