I wanted the population growth to match national averages and had long term diversified economic growth.

You want a stable economic environment and small towns may depend on a single company or commodity.

Greateroklahomacity.com has an economic forecast that might be helpful in your review of the city! 

I am hoping for advice from people who have experienced multiple economic cycles who can provide input based upon their experience.

@Kyle Bear There are a lot of markets that will cash flow in the Midwest and Southeast but you want to invest on one that not only cash flows well but also has strong economic and demographic trends.

It isn't impossible, but it generally leads to higher turnover, higher vacancy (physical and economic), higher evictions.Also, 10% of rent for property management is not very many dollars which limits the quality and attention you can get from your PM.

We're going to have school closures soon here, a big economic slowdown. 

We've never had a financial crisis with rentals but aren't assuming we never will.

Not an economical recovery but a labor force recovery.

Now when hedge funds and big investors are buying and building homes to speculate and rent out the housing crisis is only going to get worse.