For Tulsa, Zillow’s typical city home value is $222,868 and its typical observed market rent is $1,272 per month. Those figures imply a 6.85% gross yield, calculated as annual ZORI divided by ZHVI and before every operating or financing cost. Relative to the ACS median household income, the Zillow value is 3.72x income and annual Zillow rent is 25.51% of income. This is an initial affordability and revenue frame, not a property cash-flow estimate.
The city ACS describes 192,797 housing units: renters occupy 48.08% of occupied units, while the citywide vacancy rate is 10.32% of all units. Its surveyed occupied-housing measures show a $205,300 median owner-reported home value and $1,052 median gross rent, which includes contract rent plus selected utilities. These ACS measures cover different housing concepts and periods from Zillow’s typical value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or treated as direct comparables.
City depth adds caution to the revenue case. The ACS shows 47.77% of renter households at the 30% or higher burden threshold. Single-family structures are 64.81% of housing units and large multifamily structures are 11.12%; neither share measures purchasable inventory. Of vacant units, 25.71% are classified as for rent, but citywide vacancy reasons cannot establish leasing speed for a specific home. Population increased 2.85% between overlapping ACS vintages, a nonannual comparison potentially affected by boundaries. Median household income is $59,838, poverty is 18.73%, and unemployment is 6.09%; these are descriptive demand constraints, not causes of rent outcomes.
County records differ and must follow the parcel: Osage County’s reported property-tax rate is 0.685%; Rogers County’s is 0.751%; Tulsa County’s is 0.967%; and Wagoner County’s is 0.791%. These are separate county contexts, not Tulsa city rates. In the broader Tulsa, OK metro, 32.53% of listings had price drops, while metro payroll jobs changed 0.12% year over year; neither has a city denominator. Nationally, the Freddie Mac mortgage rate is 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than a Tulsa borrowing quote.
Underwriting remains limited by citywide typicals, survey sampling, mismatched periods and the absence of parcel condition, legal status and lease terms. For any candidate, verify the address’s county, tax bill, insurance and hazard pricing; obtain same-property and genuinely comparable rent and sale evidence; inspect systems and deferred maintenance; review title, permits and rental rules; and model concessions, downtime, utilities, management, repairs, capital reserves and actual loan terms. A rent-ready budget and lender quote are necessary before converting the headline yield into expected cash flow.