As a lifelong resident of the 405, I have no problem admitting that Oklahoma City is kind of boring, especially when compared to the New Yorks, LAs, and other “Big League Cities” scattered across the country.
I mean, let’s be honest. Not only is OKC a bit sleepy, churchy, and conservative, but we’re far from the ocean, far from mountains, and based on the intelligence of our rural voters, far from advanced civilization!
Despite all that, you can’t argue that OKC is light years ahead of where it was in the 20th century when it comes to entertainment options. Back then, I think the only fun things to do were hit up the zoo, go furniture shopping, or fall to your death inside the Belle Isle power plant. Now we have an NBA team, a canoe slalom course, and a streetcar. Go us!
Maybe this progress is why I’m a bit miffed that some stupid clickbait “study” recently ranked us the 7th most boring large city in America.
Via KOKH:
Despite Oklahoma City now being home to the 2025 NBA Champions, according to a recent study, it ranks among the top 10 most boring cities in the United States.
The study by <DumbClickBaitRankings.com> took a look at cities' population makeup, culinary scene, outdoor activities, nightlife, and other activities available.
Oklahoma City ranked #7 on the list as the most boring city in the country. According to the study, OKC has some of the worst parks in the country, with only one other city earning a lower parks score. OKC has the third-lowest rate of international tourists per capita of any city, and the study reports a lack of original or innovative food, with more than half of all restaurants—53%—being chains.
Before we continue, I want to clarify that I’m very aware that this is a dumb, unscientific clickbait list designed to generate engagement and web traffic for a fledgling website looking to boost its page rank, which is why I’m not linking to it or naming it.
I also want to clarify that, once again, Oklahoma City is kind of boring.
That all being said, I really question the criteria used for this ranking.
First of all, how does a lack of “international tourists per capita” make us boring? Since when do they make a city fun…
“Look, Dad! International tourists! Let’s go watch them sing songs, dance, and juggle!”
Second, how can you knock our city’s food and culinary scene? From Ma Der, Nonesuch, and Sedalia to Florence’s, Black Walnut, and Cafe Kacao, we have a vibrant and awesome local food scene that many cities would kill for. We even have 50 places that make Oklahoma onion burgers and 4,300 taquerias. It’s not our fault that every fast-food restaurant in the world also likes to set up shop here and ruin our ratio because the people are fat and the land is cheap!
Now, the one part of the study that I do agree with is that our parks kind of suck. I guess Scissortail is okay if you like to walk up a giant hill or spend five minutes trying to convince your kid to go down the giant slide, but that’s about it. If only there was something we could do about that, like—you know—invest in parks to improve our entertainment options and quality of life, like dedicate some of our sales tax proceeds to benefit them!
Oh wait. Ed Shadid—whatever happened to him?—tried doing that and the ruling class fought against it because improving neighborhood parks doesn’t make them any money. My bad.
Anyway, although I have some issues with it, I think we should embrace our city’s boredom ranking and market it! It will keep housing affordable, traffic manageable, and leave plenty of open seats at our 4,300 taquerias for international tourists. So take that, DumbClickBaitRankings.com.
