Top Tulsa Suburbs for Families: Your Guide to the Best Areas

Tulsa is fast becoming a destination for people who have decided to call it quits in areas that have outpaced their budgets. Tulsa has been coined the Cultural Capital of Oklahoma thanks to extensive cultural offerings. It has also been dubbed “the San Francisco of the Midwest” by some, but also retains the monikers of “Oil Capital of the World” and “Magic City,” a throwback to Tulsa’s rapid economic growth and prosperity thanks to the discovery of oil in the region. 

When you drive through Tulsa, you will see reminders of its boomtown past all over the place. But Tulsa didn’t just spark a flash in the pan and fizzle out. Tulsa is a great city to grow up in and grow old in, but living in the middle of the city isn’t for everyone. Thankfully, there are lots of great suburbs to choose from in the Tulsa metro, so let’s take a look at a few. 

Introduction to the Tulsa Metropolitan Area

The Tulsa metropolitan area is a great place to raise a family, with a range of suburbs offering excellent schools, outdoor recreational opportunities, and a growing economy. Tulsa has really exploded as a cultural hub, and it is ideally located near some of the most beautiful areas in America. Tulsa has several world-class lakes within an hour or two, and it is located at the western edge of the Ozark Mountain Range. If the outdoors are calling, Tulsa answers. 

From the Arkansas River to the surrounding suburbs, there’s something for everyone in the Tulsa area. The Arkansas flows beautifully through the heart of Tulsa, providing great fishing and recreational opportunities. 

Tulsa is home to several colleges and universities, including the world-famous Oral Roberts University, the University of Tulsa, and the Spartan School of Aeronautics, among others. With natural resources to spare, manufacturing, and a laundry list of white-collar opportunities, Tulsa is an awesome place to call home.  

Top Suburbs for Families

Tulsa is surrounded by a crop of excellent suburbs with just about every amenity you could ever ask for. Here are some of the best ones by the books. 

Jenks

Jenks is a storied suburb of Tulsa that has produced a ton of football stars in the state over the years. Jenks is also one of the fastest-growing cities in Oklahoma; from 2010 to 2020, Jenks grew by an astounding 54%, and it is still growing fast. 

Jenks is a suburb of Tulsa with a population of around 27,000 and a median income of $101,767. It’s ranked among the best suburbs to raise a family in the Tulsa area, with excellent schools and a low cost of living.

Jenks is located along the Arkansas River, offering plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation. Tulsa is well-designed with a beltway and major highways cutting through it, so getting across the city is a breeze. You can live in Jenks and be in the heart of Tulsa in just minutes. 

Broken Arrow

Much larger than Jenks, Broken Arrow is the largest suburb of Tulsa and, in itself, a good-sized city with around 114,000 inhabitants. In fact, it is the fourth-largest city in the State of Oklahoma and accounts for roughly one-tenth of the Tulsa metropolitan area, which numbers just over one million. 

Originally a railroad town, Broken Arrow is now a very modern, smart city home to loads of manufacturing. It is the third-largest manufacturing concentration in the state and is still in the middle of one of the largest oil and gas markets in the world. This Tulsa suburb has it all: great jobs, proximity to downtown Tulsa, and a cost of living well below the national average. 

Sand Springs

On the far west side of Tulsa lies Sand Springs. Sand Springs sprawls across three counties (Osage, Creek, and Tulsa). With a population of approximately 20,000, it is slightly smaller than Jenks and has grown by 5.1% over the past decade. 

Sand Spring is on the edge of the Tulsa metro area with a median home price in the ballpark of $248,000. This price is a moving target, but it’s still roughly 40% below the national average. If you want the amenities of a real city but a lot less noise, then Sand Springs is a great place to be part of the city without being in the city. 

Owasso

A large percentage of the Tulsa population lives in the suburbs, and the best suburb in the greater Tulsa area is always a popular debate. Residents are occasionally deeply territorial, especially when it comes to high school football. 

The concentration of parks, proximity to downtown, and other Tulsa-area attractions make Owasso a top pick. Owasso is north of Tulsa and located only a few minutes from Tulsa International Airport, one of Tulsa’s largest employers. Owasso is located in Rogers County and Tulsa County and is a rapidly growing suburb in the Tulsa region. 

Coweta 

Back to the south side of Tulsa, just down the road from Broken Arrow, you’ll find the smaller suburb of Coweta. At around ten thousand people, Coweta is a small town at heart but it is only 30 minutes from the heart of downtown Tulsa. This is a nice buffer distance from the big city, while giving you lots of room to stretch out.

Small enough to feel like home with local restaurants, parks, and a tidy downtown district, residents enjoy small-town living situated south of Tulsa. You can have your real estate agent find land there, settle down in a country church, and live life to the fullest in Coweta. Make sure to check out the Coweta Chamber for news and events. 

Kiefer

Kiefer is the smallest town on the list with a population of just over two thousand, making it not only feel like a small town, but it is a small town. Kiefer is an old oil town that never really grew all that much, even though it is just about to be swallowed up by Glenpool and Sapulpa. Adjacent to Glenpool, and a little south of much larger Jenks, Kiefer gives you an actual small town in the Tulsa metro area.  

Sapulpa 

Finally, we have Sapulpa. Interstate 44 runs directly through Sapulpa, giving it tremendous access to not only all of Tulsa, but everywhere else in the nation if you want it. You can get to Oklahoma City in about 90 minutes, and from there you can get just about anywhere. Of course, you don’t have to go anywhere; Tulsa has it all. 

Fine arts, culture, jobs, and cheap real estate. Sapulpa is only minutes from downtown Tulsa, but it is also close to several high-quality lakes and the Arkansas River. 

Affordable Suburbs

The great thing about the greater Tulsa metropolitan area is that the entire place is cheaper than the rest of the nation by a fair amount. It doesn’t matter which suburb you pick because all of them beat the national average.     

Housing is over 20% below the national average, and transportation is almost 15% below. Healthcare is a staggering 21% cheaper. If you are moving from San Francisco, you can expect your cost of living to be over 90% less than in the Bay Area. 

Washington D.C.? Almost 50%. Nearly 60% less than Boston. All of these states are courtesy of Salary.com. 

If you are moving to Tulsa to save money, just pick a suburb based on aesthetics or nearness to city attractions. 

Suburbs with Excellent Schools

As with all major cities in the U.S., the best public schools are not in the city itself but in the suburbs, and the Tulsa area is no exception to this at all. 

Jenks

Jenks has an excellent school system, scoring a fantastic A+ rating from Niche.com. In fact, it is the #1 school district in the entire state, and it is also the #1 school district for athletes in the state. If you have athletically gifted children, you should definitely consider Jenks. They will get a solid academic experience and will have the best possible exposure to great coaches in Jenks. And this is nothing new: Jenks was notoriously good when I was a high school athlete in neighboring Kansas 25 years ago! 

They have been building a tradition of athletic greatness for decades and feeding top-tier talent straight to OU and OSU. 

Broken Arrow

Crosstown rival Broken Arrow is no slouch. While slightly lower on the totem pole (#8 in athletics and #25 in overall ranking), Broken Arrow is a great destination. One thing that I really like about Broken Arrow is that it is further away from Tulsa proper, so if you really don’t want to be that close to the city, but you don’t want to live two hours away from Costco. 

Broken Arrow is a little pricier than Tulsa proper, as all suburbs usually are, but it is still well below the national median average. 

Owasso 

Tulsa really is a hotbed of incredible athletes, and the local school districts have catered to this phenomenon. 

On the north side of Tulsa, between Tulsa and Bartlesville, is Owasso. Owasso is the #3 best district in the state for athletes and the 18th best overall school district. 

Also, with a cost of living around 15% below the national average, Owasso is a very attractive place to live. 

Suburbs with a Growing Economy

Tulsa itself continues to outpace national economic growth, and the Tulsa area accounts for nearly one-third of Oklahoma’s economy. This is a staggering statistic, considering the products across Oklahoma, including oil and gas, cattle and other livestock, and crops.  

Since Tulsa is a relatively easy city to traverse, you can simply pick one based on the other salient characteristics that you like about it. You can choose a neighborhood you like and know that you are no more than 30 minutes from anywhere else in the metro. 

Final Thoughts

Tulsa is one of the hottest places to live right now, and that trend isn’t going anywhere. With arts and culture at your fingertips, highly affordable housing, and loads of jobs, not to mention excellent school districts and incredible athletics, all you need to do is pick the suburb you like and go with it. 

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