If you\u2019re a Gen Xer or younger, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ve contemplated moving out of California. The reasons are obvious. It\u2019s expensive and difficult to raise a family, pay rent or even consider buying a home. That struggle isn\u2019t just on the mind of locals. Midwestern and Southern states have recognized an opportunity and are making their best pitches to frustrated Californians.<\/p>\n
So, is there a price Tulsa, Okla., could offer you to move? Are the incentives of cheaper gas, much shorter commutes and overall drive times enough of an appeal? I haven\u2019t even mentioned the cost of living and a real chance of buying a home. My colleague Hannah Fry spoke with Californians who moved to Tulsa for a variety of reasons. Here are a couple of their stories.<\/p>\n
Rollins felt socially isolated working a remote job in Ocean Beach for a tech company, but still overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people around her. Months earlier she read about a program, Tulsa Remote, that would pay remote workers to relocate to Oklahoma\u2019s second-largest city for at least a year. She decided to give it a shot and visit. \u201cWhen I was [in California], I was so consumed with the process of day-to-day living \u2014 the traffic, getting places, scheduling things,\u201d Rollins said. \u201cHere there\u2019s so much more space to think creatively about your life and to kind of set it up the way you want.\u201d After five months in Tulsa, Rollins met her significant other at a trivia night. Her partner, with whom she now lives, made the journey from California to Tulsa for school during the pandemic. \u201cHe grew up in Santa Cruz and was living 10 minutes from me down the road in Pacifica, but we never met in California,\u201d she said. \u201cWe met in Tulsa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tulsa Remote \u2014 funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation \u2014 started in 2019, and has sought to recruit new residents to diversify the city\u2019s workforce. It decided to offer $10,000 to remote workers who would move to the state for at least a year. The program also provides volunteer and socializing opportunities for new residents and grants them membership at a co-working space for 36 months.<\/p>\n
Tulsa Remote has attracted more than 3,600 remote workers since its inception. More than 7,800 Californians have applied to the program and 539 have made the move, cementing California as the second-most popular origin state behind Texas. Those numbers reflect something of a wider trend: From 2010 through 2023, about 9.2 million people moved from California to other states, while only 6.7 million people moved to California from other parts of the country, according to the American Community Survey. A Public Policy Institute of California survey conducted in 2023 found that 34% of Californians have seriously considered leaving the state because of high housing costs.<\/p>\n
The lower cost of living was a huge bonus for the Meinckes when they moved three years ago. They went from paying $2,400 in monthly rent on a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in L.A.\u2019s Westside to a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Tulsa for just a few hundred dollars more. It ended up being fortuitous timing for the couple, who discovered they were expecting their first child \u2014 a daughter named Ruth \u2014 just weeks after they decided to move. The couple are expecting their second child in December. It\u2019s a life milestone that Meincke says may not have happened in Los Angeles. In California, it costs nearly $300,000 to raise a child to 18. In Oklahoma, researchers estimate it costs about $241,000, according to a LendingTree study this year. \u201cThere was no way we were going to move into a house in Los Angeles unless we had roommates, and that\u2019s not an ideal situation,\u201d Zach Meincke said. \u201cWe were 37 when we left Los Angeles and it felt like we were at a point that if we wanted to have all those other things in life \u2014 children, a house \u2014 we need to make that shift.\u201d<\/p>\n
The appeal of cheaper housing, less traffic, and an overall lower cost of living is drawing many Californians to cities like Tulsa, Oklahoma. With programs like Tulsa Remote offering incentives for remote workers to relocate, it’s no wonder that so many are making the move. As the stories of Cynthia Rollins and Zach and Katie Meincke show, the decision to leave California can lead to a more fulfilling life, with more space to think creatively and set up life on one’s own terms.<\/p>\n
Q: What is Tulsa Remote and how does it work?
\nA: Tulsa Remote is a program that offers $10,000 to remote workers who move to Tulsa, Oklahoma for at least a year. The program also provides volunteer and socializing opportunities and grants membership at a co-working space for 36 months.
\nQ: How many Californians have applied to the Tulsa Remote program?
\nA: More than 7,800 Californians have applied to the program, with 539 making the move to Tulsa.
\nQ: What is the average cost of raising a child in California versus Oklahoma?
\nA: In California, it costs nearly $300,000 to raise a child to 18, while in Oklahoma, researchers estimate it costs about $241,000.
\nQ: What are some of the benefits of moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma?
\nA: Some benefits include cheaper housing, less traffic, and an overall lower cost of living, as well as more space to think creatively and set up life on one’s own terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to the California Exodus If you\u2019re a Gen Xer or younger, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ve contemplated moving out of California. The reasons are obvious. It\u2019s expensive and difficult to raise a family, pay rent or even consider buying a home. That struggle isn\u2019t just on the mind of locals. Midwestern and Southern states […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-real-estate"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/1b923fb\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6000x3150+0+425\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F86%2F8d%2Fb6784eaf4ddf830fe63a77ce7ae8%2F1517574-la-me-tulsa-remote-sdb-44.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20047"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20050,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20047\/revisions\/20050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}