Last summer, I watched hundreds of digital nomads pour into a small mountain town in Bulgaria called Bansko. They came for Bansko Nomad Fest, the largest gathering of digital nomads in the world. I had never seen a community like that before and was surprised by the number of people who return year after year to reconnect with friends they made all over the world.
Bansko is not an obvious choice. I’m from the United States, and I’d guess most Americans couldn’t point to Bulgaria on a map. The town is beautiful, but so are hundreds of other places nomads could choose instead.
What made Bansko different is that someone decided to invest in the community there, and that decision changed everything.
Almost a year later, I learned about TulsaBound, a month-long coliving program in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for remote workers who want to experience the city while they work. Tulsa is one of the only places in the US with a real reputation for its remote work community, but it’s still kinda under the radar. So I decided to see it for myself.
The more I got to know the place, the more I wondered… Is Tulsa the Bansko of the US?
You’re Going to Oklahoma?
That was the question I got every time I told someone I was spending a month in Tulsa. It was the same reaction I got when I told people I was going to Bulgaria.
Oklahoma wasn’t on my radar before joining TulsaBound. I’d seen mentions of Tulsa’s remote work programs over the years but never seriously considered visiting. When I signed up, I didn’t know what to expect, and honestly, I think that’s the best way to experience a new place.
I arrived with an open mind, ready for whatever Tulsa had to offer.
First Impressions
TulsaBound is a curated month-long experience that allows remote workers to get a taste of the city from the inside. There is no pressure to relocate and no commitment beyond the month. You simply show up, live there, and see what it’s actually like.
In many ways, it felt like the coliving experiences digital nomads are used to finding abroad, except this time it was happening in the United States.
On my first day, I wandered through downtown Tulsa. The city felt relaxed. Colorful murals covered building walls, and the architecture mixed historic buildings with modern development. There wasn’t constant traffic noise or crowds rushing from place to place. Nothing felt hurried and I loved that.
The murals and architecture made a good first impression. But the community is what convinced me there’s something special happening here.
The People Make the Place
People come to Tulsa for all kinds of reasons. Some stay for a month others stay for a year and some never leave.
Through TulsaBound, our cohort got to experience pieces of the community that make Tulsa unique. As someone only visiting for a month, I was curious why so many people decided to stay long term.
Everytime I asked, I kept hearing the same answer.
One evening, we attended a community dinner hosted by a local. Around the table were former TulsaBound participants and remote workers who had relocated permanently.
One conversation stood out.
A young woman shared that she was living away from her family for the first time. She talked about how the community she found in Tulsa had given her the confidence to solo travel, something she never thought she would do before moving there.
Later in the month, we attended Sunset Social, an event hosted by Experience Tulsa that brings together locals and newcomers. There, another woman told me she had explored relocation programs in other cities before choosing Tulsa.Â
She explained how the other programs felt transactional, but Tulsa felt like people genuinely wanted her there. The support she found after arriving is what convinced her to stay. More than two years later, she’s still in Tulsa and loving it.
Another day, our group visited Burning Cedar Sovereign Wellness, a nonprofit serving Indigenous communities. Since much of Oklahoma sits on Native American land, it was an opportunity to learn about a side of local culture many visitors never experience.
Every conversation pointed to the same conclusion.
People don’t stay in Tulsa because of incentives or relocation programs. Tulsa is the kind of place where you can show up as yourself and quickly feel like you belong. People put down roots here because they find genuine connection.
It reminded me a lot of Bansko.
Bansko is a ski town in the winter and a nomad village in the summer. That community didn’t happen by accident. People recognised something special and intentionally built around it.
The same thing is happening in Tulsa.
What a Month in Tulsa Looks Like
When you join TulsaBound, you become part of a small cohort of remote workers spending a month together in the city.
Everyone stays in the same apartment building, making it easy to connect outside of organized events. Participants get their own furnished one-bedroom apartment, complete with a kitchen and private bathroom. The program handles airport transportation, organizes rides to group events, and provides Lyft credits for exploring independently.
During the day, everyone works from wherever they choose. Some stay in their apartments. Others work from Gradient coworking spaces or local coffee shops.
A few evenings each week you have organized activities. During my month, those included community dinners, a performance of Mamma Mia, jazz night at Vintage Wine Bar, bingo at Saturn Room, and workshops at the coworking.Â
Weekends included a soccer match, farmers market, the Big Bite food festival, hiking Turkey Mountain, a wine seminar, a wellness event, and time spent at The Gathering Place.
The Tulsabound program makes it easy for strangers to become friends and a new city to feel like home.
Is Tulsa the Bansko of the US?
Yes, but not in the way you might expect.
Tulsa and Bansko don’t look anything alike. Bansko is a mountain town covered in snow for part of the year. Tulsa is mostly flat, and locals will tell you about tornado season before you even ask. On paper, they have very little in common.
But the feeling is the same. Both places are unexpected, easy to meet people in, and welcoming the moment you show up. You arrive surrounded by strangers and leave with new friends, in a community that doesn’t care where you’re from or what brought you there. And both prove that what makes a destination special isn’t the scenery, the weather, or even the affordability.
It’s the people.
Great nomad destinations aren’t created by geography alone, but by people who intentionally build community. This shows up in both Bansko and Tulsa.
That’s why I think Tulsa is the Bansko of the US. And most digital nomads haven’t caught on yet.
If you have been to Bansko, you already know what makes a place like this special. Go check out Tulsa and see if you feel it too. And if you are looking to explore what it’s like to live in a US city, I highly recommend the TulsaBound program to really get to know and experience Tulsa.
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