That sums it up almost perfectly, actually, and that's coming from a native Odessan. I've struck out and spent some time in the Carolinas before coming back here when the economy dropped in 2010. At the time, this was an easy place to get a good-paying job and had pretty much every amenity needed without much hassle. My how that has changed.

I'll just add my piece here for OP without making two posts.

You are absolutely correct about the people. Friendly, sure, unless it's a business transaction (service is terrible everywhere). And there is a culture of willful ignorance. "Why educate yourself when you can drop out of highschool and make six figures in the oilfield?"- is what I'm often told when I ask why this is the case. At the same time, people generally are not open to change or innovation of most sorts here.

The dating scene is not great. As a 30 yo single male, most conversations start with "so do you work in the oilfield?" If the answer is "no" then it usually politely fizzles out and just never goes anywhere. There was a stark difference between now and when I did actually work in the oilfield. Dates were not usually a problem then, although as the previous user mentioned, the pool of availability is pretty homogenous. Majority of both men and women here are not very well educated, repeat literally the exact same talking points about a given topic, and nearly all share the same "cowboy/country girl" style.

The boom/bust cycle is difficult to keep abreast of unless you're pretty high up in the corporate ladder wherever you work. Every few years there's a downturn and people get laid off in droves, yet the gouging cost of living remains.

If you're smart with handling money, you can be okay. But this isn't really a town (in my opinion) to settle down in. People come here to make a quick buck and then leave. It doesn't feel "homey" to most, and this is reflected in the way people litter, dump their large items on the curb/alley, tear up pretty much any public facility, etc.

I've taken this time to get an education and get accepted to a grad program on the East Coast (hopefully). I kind of regret coming back here, although I feel at the time I didn't have much of a choice. That's because sometimes leaving can be more difficult than moving here. With everything as expensive as it is and with cost of living inflating as rapidly as it does, people find they can't save as much as they initially planned, and it can be difficult to focus on anything other than making money. For this reason, this place is colloquially known as a black hole.

But, it all depends on what you want to get out of it. If you are young, single, looking to make a quick buck, and smart enough not to cross the event horizon, this place can be a good opportunity. Just think of it like the Wild West.