Tulsa: A City for Creators, Dreamers and Doers
What do you know about Tulsa? Unless you live within a few hours’ radius, maybe not as much as you should. Livability.com has featured Tulsa as a city for entrepreneurs and a best place to live, but those are just a couple aspects of a truly fascinating place. It’s super affordable, easy to get around and its leaders are focused on the future.
Tulsa lies at the upper end of the population we count as a mid-sized city, at almost half a million people – and over a million in the region. As a resident, you might run into folks you know here and there, but the city is also large enough to support all the amenities you’d want. If you need a change of scenery, other great cities like Oklahoma City, Wichita, Dallas and Little Rock are all within a four hour drive.
In This Article
Tulsa Invests in Strategic Growth & Momentum
From the Tulsa Remote initiative to hosting writers like me, Tulsa’s people want to get the word out about their city and know that a visit is worth a thousand words. The widely reported Tulsa Remote program has recruited almost 3,000 new residents since launching in 2018, and they regularly give tours to folks considering the move. They even include significant others or a guest. This initiative was one of the first of its kind paying people to move, and many other cities have since replicated it.
Once known as The Oil Capital of the World – that industry brought prominent oilmen – and their fortunes – to the area in the early 19th century. Much of that wealth is still in the community today through local foundations that support big projects ranging from Campus Tulsa’s work to make this city the best place to launch careers, to the creation of The Gathering Place, a huge riverfront park with sprawling playgrounds, gardens, an outdoor concert arena, free paddle boats, a beach (yes, you read that right), art and way more — this park alone might inspire you to move here. Tulsa is a place where it seems they’ve thought of everything – and have the resources to make plans and ideas into reality.
Tulsa today is more diverse than you might expect. This makes sense when you learn more about the city’s history. One of the most unique aspects of the area today is the presence of significant swaths of tribal lands and reservations, and the engagement of tribal leaders in the success and growth of the community.
To early Black Oklahomans, pre-statehood Oklahoma (fun fact: it didn’t become a state until 1907) represented an area of opportunity where they established all-Black towns and eventually, in the early 1900s, Tulsa’s Greenwood District, also dubbed Black Wall Street. The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre razed the area in an incredibly dark turn of events destroying more than 1,200 homes, rendering 10,000 people homeless. Hundreds lost their lives. Even in the face of such despair, Black Tulsans rebuilt much of the area in the years following. You can learn more about the Massacre and the story of Black Tulsans at the award-winning and moving Greenwood Rising history center on the former site of Black Wall Street.
Tulsa is an Unexpected Music City
The city is making waves as an emerging music hub with attractions paying homage to Okie Woody Guthrie, of “This Land is Your Land” fame, and his protege Bob Dylan. In fact, Oklahoma is the home state of many chart topping country artists like Blake Shelton and Carrie Underwood. Cain’s Ballroom is a Tulsa music venue in a building that will turn 100 in 2024.
The renovated historic Church Studio offers one-of-a-kind recording options, including a range of analog choices. Church Studio founder, Tulsa native and serial entrepreneur Teresa Knox has a clear heart for the community. She personally bought and renovated the Church Studio space, including registering it to the Register of Historic Places (one of only a handful of recording studios to ever receive this distinction), and also purchased surrounding property to create a Studio Row district already buzzing with the energy of cozy small businesses – Maples Tacos & Cantina and Hummingbird Fine Craft are great ones to check out.
… And an Unexpected Art City
From a ballet company with 40 full-time dancers (a size rivaling companies in larger cities) to extensive Art Deco architecture, here you can enjoy whatever type of art feeds your soul. The Philbrook Museum of Art is a unique stop with a historic home and extensive beautiful gardens. Built for one of those wealthy oil barons we mentioned earlier, the home was completed in 1927. Just 11 years later, Waite Phillips donated his mansion to become an art center for Tulsa. Today the museum’s sizable collection includes the work of many diverse creators. If you visit, don’t miss the novel and surprisingly interesting sticky note room where visitors can leave questions and comments on the walls to be answered by museum staff – on more Post-It notes of course.
For an experience of the more kitsch variety, Tulsa’s stretch of Route 66 offers gems like Decopolis, Sky Gallery and the massive Meadow Gold neon sign from the 1930s. The Mother Road Market Food Hall has been ranked among the top food halls in the country.
Hanging Out is Never Dull
Explore East Village’s Boxyard shipping container neighborhood, the Blue Dome District of shopping and restaurants or the Arts District where visitors are encouraged to “Arrive Early. Stay Late.” Get drinks on the roof of the historic Mayo Hotel in the Deco District. Tulsa’s Cherry Street has some of everything you could want too. These are just a few of Tulsa’s more than 30 entertainment and residential districts that offer something for everyone.
Room to Spread Out
Whether it means getting some fresh air at one of the region’s many parks, or purchasing a home where you have space to breathe, you can spread out here. The City of Tulsa maintains 135 parks and trails within Tulsa’s city limits alone. As a state, Oklahoma is primarily rural, if that’s what you’re looking for, and there are options for having that extra privacy while still being relatively close to the city.
Bottom line: a city doing so much so welI, Tulsa is well-worth your consideration for a visit or a relocation.