Oklahoma City
$1,264/mo two-bedroom
Oklahoma City has reinvented its downtown with a river boathouse district and an NBA team, backed by very cheap housing and short commutes. Flat, sprawling, hot in summer, and squarely in tornado country.
State comparison · Updated October 2026
Oklahoma vs Texas: Cost of Living, Taxes, Rent and Safety Compared
Weighing a move between Oklahoma and Texas? Here’s how they compare on the numbers that decide most moves, from the same public data Locustep uses to rank all 50 states.
The short answer
- Rent: a typical two-bedroom is $361 a month cheaper in Oklahoma ($1,127 vs $1,488) — $4,332 a year, 24% less.
- Income tax: Texas has no tax on wages; Oklahoma’s top rate is 4.5%.
- State and local taxes: a median-income household would pay 6.2% of income in Texas vs 6.7% in Oklahoma — income, property and sales tax together.
- Everyday costs: groceries, transport and other everyday spending run lower in Oklahoma (index 94.8 vs 97.5, U.S. = 100).
- Pay: median household income is $79,721 in Texas and $66,148 in Oklahoma.
- Safety: Texas has the lower violent crime rate (389.4 vs 422.8 per 100,000).
- Weather: winter afternoons average 51°F in Oklahoma City and 58°F in Dallas; summer afternoons 91°F and 94°F.
Side by side
Shaded cells are the lower-cost, higher-income or lower-risk figure. Indexes: U.S. average = 100.
What it means for your budget
Rent alone: moving from Oklahoma to Texas changes a typical two-bedroom rent by +$361 a month (+$4,332 a year); the move the other way flips the sign. Taxes, pay, insurance and the move itself shift too, and how much depends on your income, your household and the city you pick.
That’s exactly what Locustep’s Net-Impact Report works out: your take-home pay after state and local taxes in both places, rent or buy for your budget, insurance and moving costs, and the month the move pays for itself.
Which state fits you better?
On Locustep’s directional scores, Texas leads on job market, remote-work infrastructure, infrastructure and transport and airport access. Which of those matters depends entirely on you.
Where people look in each state
Oklahoma
Tulsa
$1,229/mo two-bedroom
Tulsa has striking Art Deco architecture from its oil boom, a strong arts scene and a well-known remote-worker relocation incentive. Cheap, greener and hillier than Oklahoma City, with a slower pace.
Norman
$1,264/mo two-bedroom
Norman is the University of Oklahoma's town just south of Oklahoma City — young, affordable, with a walkable campus corner and a football-dominated autumn.
Texas
Austin
$1,817/mo two-bedroom
Austin is a fast-growing tech hub with a strong music and food culture, a young professional population and an outdoor streak. It is no longer cheap, traffic is bad and worsening, summers are punishing, and the counterculture reputation now outruns the reality.
Houston
$1,497/mo two-bedroom
Houston is vast, diverse and unzoned — energy, medicine and shipping money, extraordinary food from every immigrant community, and essentially no geographic constraints. Expect heat, humidity, flooding risk and long drives, but also the lowest big-city housing costs in the country.
Dallas
$1,807/mo two-bedroom
Realistically, Dallas is a massive, hyper-commercialised, corporate-driven metropolis where daily life focuses heavily on professional careers, excellent dining and a highly air-conditioned lifestyle. It is less about cowboys and horses and much more about sprawling highways, luxury shopping and major corporate headquarters.
Rents: HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state) (metro areas). City notes: Locustep.
Related comparisons
Sources
- HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state)
- 2024 ACS 1-year estimates (Census B19013)
- State revenue departments, 2026 income tax rates (sources listed per state)
- Locustep estimate: 2026 state income tax rules, ACS 2024 property taxes paid, October 2026 sales tax rates, BLS 2024 spending
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 1-year: median real estate taxes paid (B25103) ÷ median home value (B25077), owner-occupied homes
- BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released February 2026), housing and utilities removed
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, 2024
- FEMA National Risk Index v1.20, December 2025
- NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (v1.0.1), daily max/min normals averaged over Dec–Feb, Mar–May, Jun–Aug and Sep–Nov at the NOAA station reviewed for each city
Questions people ask
Is it cheaper to live in Oklahoma or Texas?
On rent, Oklahoma is cheaper: a typical two-bedroom is $1,127 a month against $1,488 (HUD FY2027). Everyday costs, housing excluded, index at 94.8 in Oklahoma and 97.5 in Texas (U.S. = 100). Whether you come out ahead also depends on your pay and taxes in each state.
Which has lower taxes, Oklahoma or Texas?
Texas. A married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 6.2% of it in state and local taxes, against 6.7% in Oklahoma (Locustep estimate). Texas has no tax on wages; Oklahoma’s top rate is 4.5%.
Is Oklahoma safer than Texas?
By violent crime, Texas is lower: 389.4 per 100,000 residents against 422.8 (FBI, 2024). On natural hazards, FEMA puts Oklahoma at the 49th percentile and Texas at the 40th (lower is safer).
Which has better weather, Oklahoma or Texas?
It depends what you want. Winter afternoons average 51°F in Oklahoma City and 58°F in Dallas; summer afternoons 91°F and 94°F (NOAA 1991–2020). Oklahoma: hot & humid, subtropical. Texas: hot & humid, subtropical.