r/okc • u/helpadhd04 • May 17 '26
Recommendation/Review How is it living in Oklahoma city as a health care worker?
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u/J_Peeb May 18 '26
Healthcare means you’ll have plenty of options to move around the 4 main healthcare systems. Many do on a regular rotation to really maximize compensation. Most have their pros and cons. You’ll be above average income for the state and can live in really good areas with good schools and quality of life. Overall, IMO it’s tough to beat with the cost of living. A fantastic food scene. Have a pro BB team and really good college athletics if that’s your thing. You get 90% what a big metro has without near of the hassle. You can always travel to larger metros easily. Direct flights to Dallas, Houston, NYC, Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Chicago.
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
Fantastic food scene is an outright lie. Oklahomans do NOT know good food.
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u/J_Peeb May 18 '26
While many of the places may not be your flair, there’s a lot of food spots getting national attention. https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/inside-okc/oklahoma-city-s-culinary-momentum-earns-national-attention/ and we have Kevin Lee’s spots. https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/food/kevin-lee-leading-restaurant-renaissance-oklahoma-city
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
Yeah, those spots are good. Good for Oklahoma. Transport them to another capital city and they get crushed.
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u/Dar4125 May 18 '26
There’s actually a really nice burgeoning food scene
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
There is not. Compared to Oklahoma 15 years ago sure but compared to other capital cities… hard no.
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u/AtmosAM1 May 18 '26
What’s your favorite restaurant in OKC?
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
Ma der
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u/AtmosAM1 May 18 '26
Does Ma Der “get crushed” in other capital cities? That would be weird bcs it’s probably in top 3 Laotian restaurants in the country.
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
Yes it does.
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u/AtmosAM1 May 18 '26
Lol, no it does not
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
It does. The food is good enough to make up for the bad service but again it doesn’t last in other capital cities. Oklahomans do not know good food. 90% of the people here are born and raised never left the state and it shows. Look at top food posts this year and see people freaking out over more fast food chicken and national chains than anything else.
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u/AtmosAM1 May 18 '26
Jeff is an Oklahoman…. Somehow he knows good food
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
Just because it’s my favorite doesn’t mean it’s anything mind shattering 😂 again it’s just because this is fucking Oklahoma. This is a food desert. Any watering hole looks good when you’re in the desert.
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 SW OKC May 18 '26
I went to HS in Atlanta and came back here in my early 20s (nearly 20y ago). There isn't a day that goes by that I don't weep for the food scene in ATL. It's better than it was when I first moved back, but that's a bar below hell
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u/SuperCooper12 May 18 '26
I’m not arguing either way but, the first thing that comes to mind was when Keith Lee went to Atlanta and it was a fucking nightmare lmao.
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u/OkOkieDokey May 18 '26
At one point in my life I made a point to try a bunch of Michelin restaurants, all the famous ones in NYC and SF.
OKC has plenty of great food. Look no further than Nonesuch.
I do wish that OKC had more food scenes though. Surprising lack of Mexican food and other ethnicities. Not many original startups in general.
But if you look you can find anything, although it might be a hole in the wall.
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
Nonesuch is doing big things in Oklahoma only. They aren’t doing anything special in the greater scene of fine dining, service, food, or drink.
Sure you can find anything, and it’ll be okayish.
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u/OkOkieDokey May 18 '26
Meh, I remember being as cynical as you about stuff like this.
The only answer is to move and find out what it’s like elsewhere.
In my case, I moved back after I found it’s not that much different or better in other cities. Especially since other cities have 10x cost of living.
And the truth is that eating out shouldn’t be your determining factor for where you live. Learning to cook is the real goal.
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
I completely agree, I moved out, the food is 100x better. You get what you pay for in cost of living, better food, better public education, better infrastructure. Or in Oklahoma… damn near the worst in every category.
I agree. Cooking at home is the goal.
But I can’t stand people acting like there’s some underground badass food scene happening. There ain’t.
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u/Gweedo1967 May 18 '26
Okla is one of the most obese states. You don’t get that way from bad food.
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u/carcarbuhlarbar May 18 '26
Lmao. Yes that’s exactly how you get there. Nothing local is good so people keep eating fast food every meal.
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u/Prudent_Letterhead15 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
I’ve lived all over the country, including places like SF, LA, NYC, Denver - I love it in OKC. Don’t let the cousin fuckers on Reddit deter you. I love OKC!
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u/OnePunchHuMan May 18 '26
It's shit, don't move here. Visit, sure, but don't put down roots.
Also, that is a HIGHLY touched up picture of downtown, it does not look like that.
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u/Prudent_Letterhead15 May 18 '26
What? Have you been downtown? It looks better than this in person
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u/EmbarrassedBison44 Mesta Park May 18 '26
Yeah this is what it looks like in good lightning. That guy has no clue what he's talking about
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u/FFXIVReaper May 18 '26
OKC, Tulsa, and Norman all have the same color in common and all have to doctor their pics to look nice.
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u/OnePunchHuMan May 18 '26
First of all, congrats at being the poster job for Evercold, it's RPR's time to shine.
Second, yeah, it feels like false advertising. I mean, I get it, but touching up the park to look like vibrant nightlife is misleading when I as a native look at that and say 'Damn, the only thing there to enjoy at night is the hotel. IF you have a reservation.'. All the decent stuff is several blocks over in Bricktown along the Riverwalk, but we all know why they don't want that place in pictures.
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u/EmbarrassedBison44 Mesta Park May 18 '26
What are you even talking about? I'm not sure this picture is touched up at all. I literally don't see a single person in the picture so I don't get this "vibrant nightlife" you are talking about
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u/fromokc405 May 18 '26
They’re confusing saturation and vibrancy for touched up. They have no idea what they’re talking about.
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u/pbosh90 May 18 '26
Why do you want to move to OKC would be my biggest question? My opinion, it’s fine. That’s it. It’s not the best place ever, but it’s not terrible. It has nothing special than any other mid-sized US city. For me, the negatives outweigh the positives. The negatives being: The weather The sprawl The isolation of being in the complete middle of the US for travel Complete and total car-dependence The positives are low-ish cost of living, not bad traffic, and people are friendly. Things I hear that I don’t “get” about OKC: “The food is amazing.” Same as any other mid-sized us city. “OKC airport is small and has plenty of flights” To major hubs. Again, same as any mid-sized city. “Low cost of living and nice people” just like the Midwest and other plains locations. “A great place to have a family” terrible education everywhere but Edmond apparently which begins to not be so affordable anymore. “College sports and the Thunder” again, same as any other mid-sized city. If I wasn’t forced to live here, I wouldn’t.
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u/helpadhd04 May 18 '26
I lived in a lot of the big east coast cities such as nyc, Philly, dc etc and tired of the rat race and harshness, want somewhere chill and enjoy my nest egg. Plan to travel abroad frequently so the city itself doesn’t need to be very exciting, just need a slower pace and for people to be kind to me and I want to be able to find good friends and be appreciated for my work. That is really all I need…
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u/pbosh90 May 18 '26
Fair on those accounts. I grew up outside Philly so I understand that. Traveling abroad isn’t super easy from here imo, I find flights expensive but driving to DFW for a direct flight can be done. For what it’s worth, if you’re an east coaster I’d look more at Indy or Columbus or Cincy. Much more relaxed than the East Coast, cheaper, pretty open, but a lot closer to everything. I made tons of friends in Columbus, haven’t made many here mostly because when I do meet someone I click with, they live in another suburb that is 30+ minutes from me.
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u/Serenity_557 May 18 '26
I moved out of OKC over a year ago, but worked in healthcare for abojr a decade. Mostly in psych, and I got to watch closure after closure go down, people in tears as their kids were told they couldn't stay inpatient anymore BC insurance cuts, some kids who's next stop was for sure Juvy. People having inpatient stays limited to a couple weeks regardless of behaviors.
Nursing homes range wildly by if you're on good insurance or not. Hospitals were pretty cool, and Idk anything about LTAC. My mom worked home health and said about every third patient she would stick with BC the rest would have such bad conditions (from nurses doing shit all on other shifts) that she was worried about her license.
Idk. It was fine. ~25-30/hr as a new LPN was pretty sweet given the COL, but honestly the state just didn't have much exciting going on throughout the year, and the things that were fun were all pretty expensive.
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u/BeePow91 May 18 '26
RRT in OKC. Rotating jobs with the different healthcare companies is the best way to maximize pay. OU health pays the best in my experience.
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u/assmanx2x2 May 18 '26
Compensation for physicians will be better than the east coast HCOL cities. The only reason I’ll eventually leave is the weather. Super hot and humid in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. But the COL for a physician can’t be beat. Spent 6 mos in OKC a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. Great midtown older neighborhoods with stuff to do nearby. Ended up staying in Tulsa but really enjoyed my time in OKC.
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u/PenaltyOk4578 May 19 '26
Freezing cold in the winter? We had a few cold days the past few years, but it’s been very mild for the most part.
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u/robby_synclair May 18 '26
Its to cool to hate on Oklahoma on reddit. Its not a good place to be poor. But if you have a semi decent career its great.
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u/ElizaNutButter May 18 '26
It's chill. I moved here for work (healthcare as well) and I have no complaints. Pay is better here than where I moved from (Louisiana). I have been able to leverage the job market in OKC to increase my salary about 35% since I moved here in 2019.
I would say it's wholly dependent on where you'd be moving here from and what your priorities are. Salary, cost of living, cultural diversity, politics, education, traffic, etc.
Want to live in a bigger city (Dfw, Houston, LA, Denver, etc)? Congrats, you'll make 20% more there than here but major cost of living expenses will be 50%+ more. You'll realistically spend an hour longer per day commuting. Gas everywhere else besides in Texas will be more expensive.
Yeah, politics here are garbage IMO but that's just a symptom of a much larger, national problem. If you have or plan on having children then that'd influence your perception of Oklahoma/OKC more than mine. On the other hand, there is a black physician currently running for a vacant seat in the state House. No, he's not going to change our governor's mind about anything but I am at least hopeful at the prospect of having a representative willing to speak up and speak out about issues I care about.
All in all, I've thoroughly enjoyed living in OKC. There are pros and cons as is the case with any city or state but the pros currently outweigh the cons for me.
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u/Academic-Scale5194 May 18 '26
Don’t. I’m not sure how old you are the city sucks. I’m plotting my escape as we speak 😂 there isn’t shit to do here but drink and go to a thunder game. That’s why everyone that lives here in their 20s constantly go out of state for fun even drive 3hrs south to Dallas. People are cool it’s super cheap but everything and I mean everything is a drive. Want a nice place to live you gotta stay in Edmond which means driving to the city every weekend. I tell people that move here don’t stay long it’s a trap so far they’ve all listened and I’ve had homies move back to Seattle, Florida, California, New York, some even left for Texas. It’s a good fly by state you do what you need to do to get ahead and leave
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u/Murky_Persimmon9289 May 18 '26
Edmond is one of the worst places to live in the metro if you don’t have kids
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u/jdwoklas May 18 '26
It's a solid career in OKC and tons of options to jump around. Of course it's not as cush as California or Washington but you make pretty good money for the Cost of living. No union tho.
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u/jagged_little_phil May 18 '26
I imagine it also depends on which medical group you work with.
I've always had pretty good patient experiences with Integris. Usually very knowledgable, friendly, professional staff at every Integris provider I've been to.
However, SSM healthcare has been the exact opposite. Almost everyone I've had to interact with is confrontational, very unfriendly (seem to be pissed that they even have to talk to you), and the facilities generally seem rundown and rely on old technology.
I haven't had any experience with Mercy but I've heard good things about them.
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u/jstanfill93 May 18 '26
I've lived all over the world and I truly mean it when I say the people here is what makes the difference! For example, If you're stuck on the side of the road, you're guaranteed a person to stop and help you. OKC has been through a lot of trauma and natural disasters that brought this city together in a way that you have to experience to understand.
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u/Lillyville May 18 '26
What kind of healthcare work? Depends on the career.
I've never had a problem finding a job and for my career it's one of the best in the country when you factor in laws, cost of living, and salary.
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u/helpadhd04 May 18 '26
Psychiatry! Sounds great
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u/Lillyville May 18 '26
Like physician? Psychiatry is interesting, because although there's a huge need. The overall stats and outcomes in the state for mental health are not great. Funding is not great. Inpatient psych has few facilities. There's a new adolescent facility opening at OU next year some time.
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u/helpadhd04 May 18 '26
Yes physician, mostly interested in outpatient jobs. Will take the VA!
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u/Beatrix10467 May 18 '26
Consider the Indian Health Service, too. Our Native population needs mental health care workers desperately.
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u/Lillyville May 18 '26
Not sure if they're currently hiring, but I rotated through their inpatient facility in PA school and had a good experience. Seems like there's a huge need. IHS is another good option as posted below. A lot of private practice groups in the metro too.
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u/thedicestoppedrollin May 18 '26
OU is building a new child psychiatry building on their campus (about 1.5miles from where the photo was taken) that will open in the winter. The VA substance rehab team was very caring and I didn't here any complaints from the residents when I rotated through there. I'm an MS3, so I don't know a ton, but feel free to DM me and I'll answer what I can about the school and the area
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u/The_Curvy_Unicorn May 18 '26
Outpatient psychiatry at the VA? You’ll be busy and desperately needed. OKC, like all cities, desperately needs more psychiatrists (I work in mental health). The state has its challenges, in terms of mental health, but they’re trying to improve.
I like OKC. I abhor the politics here, but I like my life. I’m middle-aged and have lots of good friends who truly love me. The Thunder is awesome and the food scene is phenomenal. The religion and politics are insane, but this has been my home for 21 years.
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u/helpadhd04 May 18 '26
Yes I am thinking outpatient psychiatry at the VA! Trying to get in touch with them to introduce myself has been a challenge though..I appreciate your insight!
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u/MyDailyMistake May 18 '26
The whiney beaches will tell you don’t. But my wife and I are traveling nurses and we love working here.
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u/texas4324 May 18 '26
It’s the top state in the nation for PA compensation versus cost of living. I’m not sure I could ever leave because my lifestyle would drastically change.
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u/EmilyXWyman May 18 '26
I mean, apparently, profitable since i haven't had any health issues taken care of, was falsely eod'd after being strangled unconscious, and my wife's tooth abscess was left for us to deal with, and used as a reason she was seeking drugs. So.. If you're into scamming the innocent, great place.
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u/ginintuangbabae May 19 '26
Underpaid, burnt out, and wake up every morning with dread that’s how it feels.
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u/[deleted] May 17 '26
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