What Entry-Level Work Really Pays in Oklahoma City

Claire Brooks

Quick test. What do you think a decent entry level job pays in Oklahoma City right now? Just a gut number.

Miles

Uh, fifteen an hour? Maybe sixteen if somebody's feeling generous.

Claire Brooks

That's what I assumed too. Then I looked at a ZipRecruiter page for OKC jobs, and, um, it says the 25th percentile is $44,500 a year. That's about $21.40 an hour. The median is $61,500.

Miles

Wait, the bottom quarter starts at twenty one forty? That sounds off.

Claire Brooks

Fair. It's one job board's math, and they call everything below that line outliers, so I'd hold it loosely. But take the gap between your sixteen and their $21.40. That's $5.40 an hour. Over about 173 hours a month, that's roughly $934 in gross monthly room. For a renter, that's, that's a whole car payment, or most of a rent check.

Miles

Okay, that I can picture. So where are the actual jobs?

Claire Brooks

Start with a Glassdoor listing. SSC Services for Education is hiring a full time Administrative Assistant at Moore Public Schools, 1500 Southeast 4th Street. Fixed pay, $21.63 an hour, Monday through Friday.

Miles

Fixed. So no, no guessing on the paycheck.

Claire Brooks

Right. And the listing says they offer same day pay, plus a benefits package with medical, dental, vision, and a 401K match. The requirement is three years of admin experience. It doesn't mention a degree. Applications are online only.

Miles

Three years is not nothing, though. And I'm gonna push on this. School district office work, calendars, expense reports, minutes for meetings, that's a lot of bureaucracy. I'd take warehouse overtime over that any day.

Claire Brooks

Okay, but overtime is, is the thing that gets cut. You talked last episode about that 3 PM to 1:30 AM swing shift. Great when the hours are there. When they trim the shift, your month shrinks, and, um, your sleep schedule already paid the price.

Miles

Hmm. So you're saying the boring schedule is the benefit.

Claire Brooks

Same hours every week. You can plan a rent date around it, a childcare pickup around it. The pay doesn't swing. That's worth something, even if the office is dull.

Miles

Fine. Dull with a steady paycheck, I'll allow it. What if you don't have the three years?

Claire Brooks

Indeed has an ALDI listing for part time cashiers and stockers in OKC. Starting wage $18.00 an hour, and the listing shows step increases. $18.50 in year two, $19 in year three, $19 in year four, then $20 in year five.

Miles

Part time though. Part time means, what, twenty hours?

Claire Brooks

Fewer than 30 hours a week, per the listing. And stockers have to be able to arrive as early as 5:00 AM.

Miles

Five AM. Me, the former morning show guy, saying that's rough.

Claire Brooks

But you're done by afternoon. That frees up school pickup, or a class. Which brings us to the next piece.

Claire Brooks

Francis Tuttle Technology Center in OKC charges career training tuition at $3.00 per clock hour. So a career major with 1,000 hours costs $3,000. That's from their cost page.

Miles

Three dollars an hour. Like, for school. I keep doing the math backwards.

Claire Brooks

The math is just hours times three. A 600 hour program would be $1,800. Their program list has Advanced Manufacturing, with tracks like instrumentation and process control technician, at Portland and Reno. Machining, with a CNC machinist major, is at Portland. Out of state is double, by the way, $6.00 an hour.

Miles

And you pay it how? Out of pocket?

Claire Brooks

Pay in full, federal aid or scholarships if you qualify, or a payment plan with a down payment. I can't promise which fits you. Those are their listed options.

Miles

Okay. So that's the long game. What about the short game? Like, rent is due Friday.

Claire Brooks

Talento Logistics has a ZipRecruiter posting for a FedEx Ground Alternative Vehicle Program delivery driver in OKC. You deliver packages using your own vehicle, $140 a day.

Miles

A hundred forty. So two days is, um, two eighty.

Claire Brooks

If two days are offered. The posting doesn't say weekends, so I'd ask before counting it. And your own vehicle means your own gas and wear, which, uh, that $140 doesn't account for.

Miles

Right. Gross isn't take home. Got it.

Claire Brooks

Now the serious one. Catholic Charities in OKC runs emergency rent and utility help. Their OKC metro application opens online Mondays at 8:30 AM. The form closes after they accept six clients, then reopens the next Monday at 8:30.

Miles

Six. Six people a week, in a whole metro?

Claire Brooks

That's what the page says. And funding is limited, assistance isn't guaranteed. You'd need proof of income, photo ID, a past due notice with your lease, and an intake with a case manager. It's once a year per household, three times in a lifetime.

Miles

So it's a stopgap, not a plan.

Claire Brooks

Exactly how they describe it. The Community Action Agency of Oklahoma City also lists rent and mortgage assistance. Their number is four oh five, two three two, oh one nine nine.

Miles

Okay, here's my worry. People read a list like this, and they're working fifty hours already, and they're fried, and nothing happens. I've been that guy with the tab open for a week.

Claire Brooks

So make it tiny. What's the one move?

Miles

Before five o'clock today, one of two things. Submit the Moore Public Schools application, if you've got the experience. Or call the Francis Tuttle cashier at four oh five, seven one seven, four two two four, and just ask how tuition works for a program. Five minutes. That's it.