Tulsa, Oklahoma City And Lawton Receive High Marks From Site Selection Publication

September 2, 2009 -- The August edition of Business Facilities magazine gives Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Lawton high marks for cost of living, quality of life, and economic growth.

Tulsa is No. 1 for having the best cost of living among areas with a population of more than 500,000 and No. 2 for its quality of life.

Oklahoma City is ranked No. 7 for its economic growth potential. Lawton is No. 9 for best cost of living among areas with a population of less than 500,000.

"One of the things that continues to be an attraction is the low cost of living, which translates to a low cost of doing business. People can have a better quality of life in Tulsa than they can in places in the East or West Coast ... and that's important in helping those people to make a decision of where they want to live and where they want to work," Jim Fram, Senior Vice President of Economic Development with the Tulsa Metro Chamber, tells the Tulsa World.

For its 2009 Metro Rankings Report, the magazine looked at several categories that serve as benchmarks for any economic development program, including quality of life, cost of living and green-building initiatives.

The magazine says it ranked Tulsa's cost of living No. 1 because of the low cost of renting or purchasing a home. The publication also gave Tulsa high marks for having a short commute time, with an average one-way commute of nearly 20 minutes.

Business Facilities magazine targets a small, niche audience of corporate real estate executives, site consultants and company CEOs who are seeking to gather information for potential expansion or relocations.