Oklahoma Housing Dashboard
Clear data to guide statewide housing decisions
From the growth of our metros to resilient rural communities, every part of Oklahoma faces unique opportunities and challenges. This dashboard provides transparent data to help leaders and residents understand their local housing markets and plan for a stronger, more affordable future.
Statewide Findings
The Takeaway
Oklahoma's competitive advantage has long been its affordability, a key driver of the domestic migration and economic activity fueling the growth of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. To maintain this powerful trajectory, the state’s housing supply must meet the moment.
Sustaining our growth requires building a wider variety of housing to support our entire workforce and ensuring an adequate supply of rental units affordable to households earning under $35,000. Preserving clear paths to homeownership is critical for broad-based prosperity, but this path is narrowing. For the first time in over two decades, the median renter household in Oklahoma can no longer afford to purchase the median-priced home.
Since 2020, Oklahoma has ranked 11th nationally for domestic migration, adding a significant number of new households that need a place to live.
Demand Drivers: Population & Income
Housing demand starts with people and paychecks. Population growth and household resources set the pace for how many homes we need at and what price points.
Oklahoma has grown steadily at 6.4% since 2013. Post-pandemic migration from neighboring states has accelerated growth and offset the effects of an aging population.
Per capita, Oklahoma is 11th in Domestic Migration rates since 2020, comparable with Texas at 23.5 new arrivals per 1,000 people.
However, this growth has been uneven. The Oklahoma City and Tulsa metros account for more than 80% of all population growth in the state.
While median incomes have risen considerably since 2012, they remain considerably below the national median and have lagged growth in home values.
Affordability Challenges
These conditions have led to declining vacancy rates, increasing cost burden, and mounting strain on the poorest households in the state.
As more people have moved to Oklahoma’s metro areas, housing vacancy rates have fallen rapidly since 2019, despite staying above the national average.
A more competitive high-cost environment forces families to spend a larger portion of their income on housing.
A household is defined as cost burdened when it spends more than 30% of its income on housing costs, leaving less for essentials like food, transportation, and healthcare.
For Oklahoma’s lowest-income households, housing consumes more than 73% of their income. This level of housing burden is unsustainable and leaves families in constant state of financial precarity.
For a household earning $20,000 that means there is only $450 per month left over for transportation, childcare, food, and other costs. For households earning $35,000, that number increases to $1,683. The MIT Living wage calculator suggests that while this may be just about affordable for single-person households, it cannot sustain a child or other dependents.
As a result, Oklahoma faces a gap of 24,300 units for households earning below $35,000 units.
Supply: Building for Oklahoma's Future
A growing economy requires a robust housing supply. To attract and retain the workforce Oklahoma needs, the market must deliver homes at all price points.
Oklahoma’s housing stock is built on the single-family home. This foundation provides stability, but a dynamic workforce also requires rental and entry-level options. A diverse inventory is key to economic competitiveness.
The state continues to overwhelmingly build single-family housing, leaving few options for those important entry-level options.
Oklahoma seems to be on track for higher delivery in 2025, with current permits higher than previous annual averages.
However, this building activity remains constrained in the key metros of OKC and Tulsa, which make up 90% of all permits, mirroring the population changes.
Key Market Indicators: Tracking Access to Homeownership and Stability
The performance of a housing market is ultimately measured by the ability of renters to afford their homes, and for families to have access to homeownership and stability.
Access to Homeownership
Homeownership remains a cornerstone of economic stability in Oklahoma, but access is uneven.
- Statewide, 66% of households own their homes, compared to a national rate of 65%.
- Yet this stability varies across geographies and income levels: Oklahoma County’s homeownership rate is 59% and Tulsa County’s just 52%, reflecting larger renter populations and higher housing costs in urban markets.
- Nationally, Oklahoma’s rate remains competitive, but the gap between higher-income and lower-income households is striking, with ownership concentrated among middle- and upper-income families.
Affordability Gap
The challenge of ownership is a factor of increasing home prices and increasing interest rates.
The median home price in Oklahoma is $176,000, while the median renter household can afford only $116,000 under the 30% affordability rule. Over time, this gap has widened as home values have grown faster than renter incomes, limiting the ability of households to transition from renting to ownership. Compared to peer states, Oklahoma still offers relatively affordable entry points, but the path to homeownership is narrowing for many renters.
Stability of Current Owners
As of June 2024, 1.7% of Oklahoma mortgage borrowers were 30–89 days behind on payments and 0.9% were 90+ days delinquent, signaling broadly stable homeowner finances.
Rates in Oklahoma and Tulsa Counties mirror this trend at about 1.5–1.6% early-stage and 0.7% serious delinquencies. Compared to peers, Oklahoma tracks closely with Arkansas and Texas, and only slightly above Kansas and Missouri, positioning the state competitively within the region.