Quote Originally Posted by Bailey Guns View Post
I ran into that a lot when I told people this is where I was moving to. "Why the hell would you move to Oklahoma from Idaho?" Well, because I can afford to live in OK and have a decent retirement. I can't do that in Idaho, as much as I would've liked to. Even now money goes a lot further than most places...especially the Rocky Mountain States.

If it's not how ugly OK is (which isn't true, BTW...at least in my opinion), it's TORNADOES! But guess which state often has as many, or more, tornadoes than OK? That's right...Colorado. In 2021 (Jan-Sep) there were 25 tornadoes in OK. During the same time period there were 48 in Colorado...almost twice as many. On average OK comes in slightly higher than CO, but not by much.

OK is great state for veterans and especially disabled veterans. Tax rates are low, too...especially property taxes. Plus retirees get lots of tax breaks and exemptions. We applied for an agricultural sales tax exemption for our new place...anything we can relate to an ag operation is exempt from sales taxes. Everyone talks about Texas and no income tax. Well, that's great if you're working. But if you're retired it doesn't matter. Taxes overall, especially property taxes, are much higher in Texas.

I'm not saying it's for everyone...but I wouldn't discount OK as a place to live just based on what other people, most of whom have never lived or even been there, say.

I've mentioned this before but the big downside I see to the state is the lack of public lands like there is in Colorado. On the other hand, land is cheap here so it's pretty easy to buy your own. And there are many, many state parks that are HIGHLY under-utilized.
People always mention Tornado Alley when I tell them I moved to MO. I bring up the same stats and remind Coloradans that CO gets a lot of tornados.

I miss the Rockies but I don't miss traffic, or the liberal BS. Honestly, any liberal BS here is minimal, but you get so tired of hearing it from CO that I cringe when I hear it. We looked at OK a lot and considered the Tulsa area but I though it was way too dirty and congested and tons of toll roads. I actually liked OKC a lot more.

I do suggest a lot that MO should change its name from the Show-Me State to the Half-Assed State since everything they do here is the lowest denominator...but the plus side is if you were a mediocre worker in CO, you can thrive in a state like this.