With average annual total expenses of $62,898, Oklahoma is the state with the lowest cost of living, which is 14.8% below the national average, according to GOBankingRates.

That number is a big reason why some people are moving to the area, but the Tulsa metropolitan area still has a lot of room to improve to close the gap between its low cost of living and a below-average median household income, local officials say.

The low cost of living “was definitely a big factor,” said Jaslyn Ferguson, who moved to Tulsa from Orlando, Florida, via Tulsa Remote in 2021.

Tulsa Remote, supported by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, offers people $10,000 to move here.

Ferguson bought her first home in Midtown, which needed a bathroom and kitchen remodel.

“I’m an HGTV junkie and I love doing remodeling,” she said. “I was shocked that I could afford it.”

Ferguson, 32, is the owner of Reality Trail, a digital business marketing company.

She moved to Tulsa without having any previous connection to the city.

“I wanted a change of scenery,” she said. “Nobody else was doing it (culturally) like Tulsa.”

“As an African American, I was really fascinated by Black Wall Street and its history,” she said.

The house she bought was built in 1941. A similar house in Orlando, she said, would have probably cost her twice as much and would probably have been in a less attractive neighborhood.

“The real savings,” says GOBankingRates, “are in housing. (Oklahoma) residents pay 31.5% less than the rest of the country.”

Michelle Barnett is senior vice president of economic workforce and development at Partner Tulsa, the city’s economic development arm.

She pointed out that while the cost of living in Oklahoma is among the lowest in the country, the median household income in Tulsa is still below average at just over $54,000 (as of 2022).

“There is a gap,” she said. “I think it’s important to do everything we can to close that gap.”

Barnett said the more than $75 million in housing that voters approved on Aug. 8, 2023, as part of the $814 million Improve Our Tulsa 3 investment package could help.

She also said the city must continue to try to attract manufacturers with well-paying jobs, and that Tulsa’s fast-growing technology sector could be a major factor.

Tulsa will receive about $51 million from the federal government for engineering innovation and manufacturing, which is expected to create up to 56,000 additional jobs over the next decade, officials announced in July.

Wages in these jobs are about $7,000 higher than the regional average, said Jennifer Hankins, executive director of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

“I think Michelle (Barnett) is absolutely right,” said Justin Harlan, executive director of Tulsa Remote. “We need to keep doing all of these things. Tulsa is only going to get better. I think we should all embrace that.”

Since 2019, about 3,200 people have moved here through Tulsa Remote, and “we’re continuing to grow,” Harlan said.

About half of the “remoters” work in technical fields, he said.

Meagan McCollum, associate professor of finance and director of the new Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Tulsa, also said a diversified economy is key to growth.

While Oklahoma and Tulsa have a long tradition and strong foothold in the oil and gas industry, there can only be progress in other emerging sectors such as aerospace and technology, she said.

“Of course you want to have a diversified economy,” McCollum said. “Tulsa and Oklahoma … have a long history in the energy industry. But if you have other sectors … that helps you, especially when there’s a downturn in a particular industry.”

Justin Goins, 36, his wife and their young children moved to Tulsa from Lynchburg, Virginia, in 2021 via Tulsa Remote.

For Goins, a lawyer who works from home for a defense contractor, the reason he and his family moved here was not so much the low cost of living, but rather the hiking and biking trails, parks, the Tulsa Zoo, the Gathering Place and many other Tulsa amenities.

“There’s just so much to do here, especially for kids,” he said. “And most of it doesn’t actually cost much.”

Goins and his wife have four children between the ages of 4 and 4 months.

The cost of living is similar in Lynchburg in central Virginia, he said, “but there is just so much more to do here.”

Tom Bennett III, president, CEO and co-founder of First Oklahoma Bank in Jenks, who has lived in Tulsa for 36 years, said the metropolitan area must continue to push for new construction, but doing so will increase both property values ​​and other costs.

“Other cities are not standing still,” he said. “We need to redouble our efforts on new projects … and continue to invest in private and public-private partnerships,” such as Gathering Place, the BOK Center and ONEOK Field.

However, he said: “I think this will continue to increase the need for infrastructure and schools… and we need to continue to invest in those things and make sure we stay in control.”

“One of the really unique things about Tulsa is that we’ve never done anything wrong in the past. Our greatest asset is our people. And we have so many great people here.”