[vlucas]

This is awesome news for me. I currently live in the Oklahoma City area, and have for the past 11 years after moving here from the Bay Area, and am heavily invested in the local tech community (I founded http://okcjs.com and organize http://thunderplainsconf.com among other things). The tech community here is better than it has EVER been and awesome things are happening here, but of course it's all relative - it's still a small community if you're coming from the coasts.

While I can say with absolute certainty that the weather is not nearly as nice (nor the scenery as beautiful) here in OKC as it was in the Bay Area, the people here are awesome, and the opportunities abound. It's hard to put into words the forward momentum that exists here, but everyone here in the local community feels it.

Regarding salary, you may make slightly less here - depending on the job you take - but your living costs are going to be so low, you will end up having a much better, less stressful life. To give you an idea, I work remotely (telecommute) on a very well paying full-time contract, and my mortgage on a 3bd/1.5ba. 1100 sq.ft. house is $640/mth with insurance and taxes included - far below even 10% of what I make. I could easily buy a much larger brand new house, but choose not to for now in order to maximize my savings. I have more freedom in this situation than I would making even 50% more on the coasts.

Also, while I am sure there are other low-cost places to live in the U.S., I don't feel like there are many other places positioned like OKC is right now. The people of Oklahoma City have made significant public investments in the area that have attracted significantly MORE private investment. The [MAPS Projects](http://www.okc.gov/maps/) - and the [MAPS3 Project](http://www.okc.gov/maps3/) that is currently underway have completely transformed downtown OKC and are having ripple effects all throughout the greater metro area. These public projects have paid off for OKC in spades, and will continue to pay dividends for decades to come.

In the relatively short time I have lived in the OKC area, I have seen a complete turn-around and transformation of an entire metro area unlike any other I have ever seen or heard of in my life. It makes me excited for the future, and glad that I am playing a part in it, however small.

[mrfusion]

Thanks for the write-up. What's the climate like? Does it feel weird not being able to drive to a beach/ocean easily? How did you decide on OKC? I've always imaged Boulder would be nice if I ever moved inland?

[vlucas]

Honestly, the climate is not that great - we have both extremes (really host in the summer, and snow/ice in the winder), and I do really miss the beach - that is the #1 thing I miss about CA. Central Oklahoma is also fairly flat, so if you like mountains in the distance and a little colder climate, Boulder may be more your thing. The key for me is how much impact I can have here. I feel like Boulder already has a lot going for it, but OKC is on the verge of something even better. There is a lot of room here for more tech founders and more tech companies to make a real difference and not be "just another tech startup", if you know what I mean.

[micro_cam]

Boise, Bozeman or Missoula are mountain towns with young tech/startup cultures where you can still have a huge impact.

[davidw]

Yeah, the midwest is a step too far for me. I've got to have some mountains... some... something.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oklahoma/@35.856529,-97.81... randomly grabbed from outside of Oklahoma City. Looks mind-numbingly boring.

Ft Collins in Colorado looks like a calmer, more affordable place than Boulder.

[micro_cam]

Here is one from the town I live near:

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.2468,-114.177067,3a,75y,254....

The view of the thousand foot granite cliffs a few miles up in the mountains is blocked by the trees growing along the blue ribbon trout stream.

[vlucas]

Most of the midwest looks like that - even in Colorado. Here's a streetview I randomly grabbed just outside Ft. Collins: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fort+Collins,+CO/@40.33618...

[davidw]

That's more than 70km outside of town, to the east:-) Get closer and you get mountains.

[vlucas]

I am sure there are many places where this is the case, but the OKC area is where I live :).

[mrfusion]

I just looked them up, the climates look pretty dismal? 9 month winters basically?

[micro_cam]

Clearly you aren't a skier ;) I can't imagine seeking out a mountain town if you don't enjoy some sort of snow sport but the winters aren't as bad as all that and last maybe 4 months.

I moved to the Missoula area from Seattle. Summer is hotter but drier, winter is colder but drier and sunnier and I can ski powder most weekends.

I've come to enjoy a 20 degree dry day more then a 40 degree and drizzling day like we would get lots of in Seattle.

[avn2109]

shhhhhhh... you are giving away my secrets.

[humanrebar]

You left out being in Tornado Alley and otherwise nasty storms.

[vlucas]

The good news is that at least Tornadoes come with plenty of warning (visible, audible, TV, radio, etc.).

[bkjelden]

And being hit by one is an incredibly low probability event.

I've been in a tornado warning probably 30 times in my life, and never once would anything bad have happened to me if I hadn't taken cover.

[dubfan]

And fracking-induced earthquakes.

[genwin]

Boulder's not cheap. There I saw an ordinary split-level house for sale at $1.5 million. 10 miles away, closer to Denver, the same house could be $300K.

[chris11]

But real estate is much more reasonable once you get out of Boulder. You could get a decent house in Longmont for $300k, and the commute into Boulder would be reasonable.

[kpennell]

At least Boulder's rent is about 50% of the bay's

[jakespencer]

Great write-up! I'm a life-long Oklahoman and you've nailed why I have no desire to leave. I was unaware of http://thunderplainsconf.com before now, so thanks for the heads up.

[taway2012]

How long ago did you buy your house? If a person bought the house today, would they still pay only $640/mo?

[vlucas]

My house cost $76,000 when I purchased it 7 years ago, and it would be only slightly more today - around $85,000 or so. Also, it of course depends on interest rate, loan term, insurance, local taxes, etc. To be fair though, it's a small starter home that my wife and I bought when we first got married. A house we might buy if we were moving now might be more in the $150k-185k range for a nice 4bd. 2.5ba. newer house on a good amount of land (up to 1 acre).

[genwin]

I suggest you buy that next house now. That $185K could become $300K in a hurry. House prices in my area are up by about 50% in 2 years and accelerating. This is partly due to hedge funds buying up houses to rent them out. They'll likely be a big player in every major city eventually.

[xaa]

Also a fellow OKCite, and I agree wholeheartedly that it is a great place to live (although Tulsa is better).

However, I had no idea there was any kind of developer community here. Any other events going on? Or at least a centralized place to find them?

[vlucas]

There is an awesome community here! I am a part of the non-profit Techlahoma Foundation ( http://techlahoma.org/ ), and we support local user groups and community meetings in general in the state. We maintain a list of them here: http://us.techlahoma.org/groups

We also maintain a meeting announcement mailing list for OKC.js (our largest group, 50-60+ people each meeting) here: http://okcjs.com/ (click on "Sign Up!" in the navbar).

[yardie]

I'm actually impressed. Most of the news I hear out of the midwest is how the libertarian movement has stripped most municipalities of money to make any improvements.

[jdminhbg]

Might be time to start looking into more diverse news sources.

[yardie]

I watched Fox News for an hour. Does that count? I probably won't do it again because after an hour I felt like hulk smashing the television.

So who do you recommend?

[tomohawk]

Just about anything other than TV news.

TV news is designed to inflame, not inform. In the limited time they have, they can't help but be biased in some way.

[vlucas]

The MAPS projects were funded by a temporary one-cent sales tax increase that was proposed by the city, and the citizens voted to approve. The first MAPS project was so successful that the voters passed MAPS2, and now we're on MAPS3.

A good article with a nice summary of events is here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mick-cornett/oklahoma-city-map...

[cpursley]

Improvements to what?