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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Dive into Oklahoma City's numbers: cost index 89 (23 points below national average), rent $1,255/month, income $66,702, and a home price of $203,329. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Housing is the cheapest category at 73, while Healthcare runs 92. As a major city with 702,767 residents, ameniti…
#1 Ranked: Oklahoma City — cost index 89, rent $1,255/mo, income $66,702
Student-budget scoring: rent $1,255/mo, food index 88, cost index 89 — survival-level affordability
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
Dive into Oklahoma City's numbers: cost index 89 (23 points below national average), rent $1,255/month, income $66,702, and a home price of $203,329. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Housing is the cheapest category at 73, while Healthcare runs 92. As a major city with 702,767 residents, amenities and job markets are robust.
Student affordability boils down to three survival metrics: rent under $1,200/month (25pts), overall cost index (20pts), and food costs (10pts). Oklahoma City leads at $1,255/month rent with a food index of 88 — 12% below the national food cost baseline. Tulsa is close behind at $1,207/month.
"Affordable" for students means: can rent fit a part-time paycheck? Are groceries reasonable? We analyzed 4 cities in Oklahoma, weighting rent and food highest. Oklahoma City takes the top spot.
Now, the part that complicates the narrative: The 4 cities we track in Oklahoma paint a clearly affordable picture. Average cost index: 93. Median rent: $1,356/month. Household income: $68,847. Oklahoma is known for energy economy and persistently low costs — and the data backs that reputation convincingly.
If you're ready to act on this, three things to do next: 1) Click into the city pages for the top 3 and check rent trends — direction matters more than the snapshot. 2) Run your income through the salary calculator for a personalized cost comparison. 3) Compare your top two picks head-to-head on our comparison page. The data is here; the decision is yours. Quietly competitive.
| Rank | City | Cost Index | Median Rent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma City | 89 | $1,255 | Details |
| 2 | Tulsa | 89 | $1,207 | Details |
| 3 | Norman | 92 | $1,289 | Details |
| 4 | Broken Arrow | 100 | $1,671 | Details |
702,767 residents · Oklahoma
Why Oklahoma City ranks #1: the numbers tell a clear story. At 89 on the cost index, residents save roughly 23% less than the typical American. Rent sits at $1,255/month while the median household pulls in $66,702/year. The Housing category is particularly strong at 73, though Healthcare (92) lags behind. Home prices average $203,329 — $264,041 below the national median.
411,894 residents · Oklahoma
What does daily life actually cost in Tulsa? Start with the 25% rent-to-income ratio — tight but manageable for most households. On the category level, Housing (index 73) is where the real savings show up, while Healthcare (index 92) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $58,407 and homes at $212,757 round out a profile that ranks #2 for clear reasons.
130,046 residents · Oklahoma
A closer look at Norman: the cost index of 92 breaks down to a Housing index of 81 (strongest category) and a Healthcare index of 95 (weakest). Median rent is $1,289/month — 32% below the national median — while household income sits at $65,060, meaning locals spend about 24% of income on rent. That's a healthy margin by any standard (and that gap widens if you factor in state taxes).
119,194 residents · Oklahoma
A closer look at Broken Arrow: the cost index of 100 breaks down to a Utilities index of 92 (strongest category) and a Healthcare index of 103 (weakest). And as far as the data shows, median rent is $1,671/month — 12% below the national median — while household income sits at $85,220, meaning locals spend about 24% of income on rent. That's a healthy margin by any standard.
Our persona scoring model weights cost, income, rent, healthcare, taxes, and city size based on what matters most to students. Each factor scores 10-25 points out of a 100-point composite. The guide ranks every tracked city in Oklahoma by this personalized metric. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Oklahoma City ranks #1 in Oklahoma for this analysis with a cost index of 89 and median income of $66,702.
Oklahoma City scores highest for students due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,255/mo, and competitive median income of $66,702.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
Oklahoma City (ranked #1) has a cost index of 89 and rent of $1,255/mo, while Broken Arrow (ranked #4) has a cost index of 100 and rent of $1,671/mo — a 11-point difference in cost of living.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Oklahoma City is $1,255/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $640 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Oklahoma City is $203,329, which is 3.0× the local median income. That's within the standard 3.5× affordability rule for most local earners. The national median home price is $467,370.
Oklahoma has a 4.75% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 8.97%, and the effective property tax rate is 0.82%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.