Via Michelle Malkin, a fascinating piece from the Sacramento Bee regarding the ebb and flow reversal of the Okie exodus of the Great Depression – Californians, it appears, are moving back to Oklahoma and Texas at a steady rate.

The story focuses on the influx into Oklahoma City, where jobs are more plentiful, the cost of living is more manageable and – I find this to be the biggest key – the red tape one finds in Oklahoma is almost nonexistent compared to the various bureaucracies to be found in the Golden State. Highlighting this is the following passage:

"When I arrived here, I managed to get a local phone number, a localbank accountand an apartment in a secured downtown building – all in one hour," Higgins said. "I don't know anywhere else where that would happen that quickly."

I think the “Californication” of Oklahoma won’t happen, or if it does, it will be of a different sort than the type that has altered the face and spirit of the Rocky Mountains, especially Colorado and northern New Mexico. For starters, there is virtually nothing Oklahoma has to offer that would attract the type of people who ridge-lined the Rockies while making oases like Aspen and Telluride gigantic snobatoriums. My sense is that the kind of people moving to Oklahoma are those in the lower-middle, middle- and upper-middle classes, people looking for work who want their money to go farther while spending much less time in traffic.

I can’t imagine that Oklahoma City completely predicted this, but anyone who’s driven through the city since the I35-I40 interchange was completed knows how much easier the city is to get through. They’re currently widening I-35 between Moore and the city, and they’re moving I-40 farther away from downtown to relieve what relatively little congestion already exists. Added to that is Bricktown and the Oklahoma City Thunder, and for the first time in my life, downtown OKC is not only a cool place for Okies to go, it’s an attraction that has many fans from elsewhere (my friend Jenn, who I’ve interviewed here about her running and her day at Pres. Obama’s inauguration, absolutely loves Bricktown even though she’s never lived in the state).

Although the story is correct that ocean-spoiled Calis face a full day’s drive if they want to get to the nearest coast (Galveston), Oklahoma does have the miles of shoreline in the country, owing to our bizarre number of lakes and rivers – and Grand, Keystone and Texhoma are great places to spend holiday weekends, to say nothing of the gem I found outside of Broken Bow (I say found – it’s not exactly like it’s hidden, but Beaver’s Bend is tucked into the far southeast corner of the state). I still maintain that Eufala and its lake are the most beautiful in Oklahoma, but the point is that anyone from the West concerned they’re entering Dustbowl 2.0 would be happily surprised by what they find.

Especially for people with children, I couldn’t think of a better place to live. The cost of living is low, the crime rate is low, housing prices are low, jobs are (currently) ample, and post-secondary education is as affordable as you’re going to find anywhere in the country. Oklahoma will never shake its reputation as the capital of Dullsville, and the spectre of the mega-churches that overpower the city’s religious scene would certainly be a strange one for someone with a secular background, but as noted, when in Oklahoma City, do as everyone else does: go to church or, at the very least, don’t gripe about the role churches play in the state – they were here before you were (yep, even that massive white cross in Edmond).

Exit question: Were the Oklahoman and the World scooped on this, or is this more of a Cali-centric story?

Read the whole thing here.