Counties / Oklahoma / Cherokee County

Cherokee County, OK

FIPS 40021 · population 47,942 · part of Tahlequah, OK

$217k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$217k
▲ 8.4% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,216
▲ 13.7% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
6.7%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$948
market rent is 1.28x the standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+53.1%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+8.4%FHFA HPI2025+6.4%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$169k
Surveyed gross rent$831
Rent burden 30%+42.4%
Median year built1989
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
16.4%vacant
22,363estimated housing units
Occupied tenure34.3% renter
owner 65.7%renter 34.3%
Structure mix65.5% single-family
Single-family 65.5%20+ units 2.7%Mobile home 19.2%Other 12.5%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs18,644▲ 3.9% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments936annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$995▲ 5.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities25.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+3.9%WEEKLY WAGE+5.3%Trade, transportation, and utilities25.0%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Cherokee County presents a yield-versus-exit-price tension: Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value of $216,512 and median asking rent of $1,216 support a 6.74% gross yield before costs, while both rose year over year. The 2025 FHFA repeat-transaction HPI also rose, corroborating direction but not establishing a value or comparable interval. These are different vintages and methods and should not be blended into a growth rate. Income-focused buyers should investigate costs; price-execution buyers should be cautious: listing evidence is softer.

02Housing economics

That yield uses measured market asking rent, not HUD. The HUD two-bedroom FMR is $948, a payment standard; market rent sits 28.3% above it, but FMR cannot substitute for an asking-rent estimate. The effective property-tax rate is 0.54%, with median annual tax of $911. Tax is a known carrying cost, but insurance, repairs, management, vacancy, utilities and financing are not published, so the record cannot establish NOI, debt coverage, or a post-cost yield.

03Demand & competition

In Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS listing market, active listings rose 21.71% year over year while median listing price fell 9.58%. A 20.09% price-reduced share and 44.59% pending-to-active ratio point to visible supply and seller-concession conditions, not closed-sale prices or buyer demand by themselves. Net migration was 78 tax-return households, and movers’ average incomes were nearly the same in each direction, limiting the strength of an income-demand reading. Investors accounted for 17.69% of 424 purchase mortgages, a material buyer cohort but not proof of rent durability or an indication of all transactions.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled annual building-value loss equals 0.20%, a ratio rather than a site-specific dollar loss. Parcel flood zone, elevation, insurance quotation, deductible, and prior claims are needed before hazard costs can be underwritten. The 2025 QCEW total of 18,644 is annual covered employment at county workplaces, not resident employment or a forecast; trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector. Obtain property-level rent rolls, lease turnover, condition, flood documentation, insurance, operating statements, and closed-sale comps; without them, neither stabilized cash flow nor an executable acquisition price can be concluded.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Cherokee County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Tahlequah city16.9KFort Gibson town*3.8KPark Hill CDP3.2KNorwood CDP*1.8KGrandview CDP1.3KBriggs CDP1.1KMoodys CDP1.1KWoodall CDP1.1K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

33 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Tahlequah cityIncorporated place
    16,935
  2. 02
    Fort Gibson townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    3,808
  3. 03
    Park Hill CDPCensus-designated place
    3,237
  4. 04
    Norwood CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    1,752
  5. 05
    Grandview CDPCensus-designated place
    1,251
  6. 06
    Briggs CDPCensus-designated place
    1,131
  7. 07
    Moodys CDPCensus-designated place
    1,108
  8. 08
    Woodall CDPCensus-designated place
    1,050
  9. 09
    Keys CDPCensus-designated place
    982
  10. 10
    Cookson CDPCensus-designated place
    921
  11. 11
    Peggs CDPCensus-designated place
    858
  12. 12
    Lost City CDPCensus-designated place
    852
Show 21 more places
  1. 13
    Pettit CDPCensus-designated place
    816
  2. 14
    Welling CDPCensus-designated place
    720
  3. 15
    Zeb CDPCensus-designated place
    522
  4. 16
    Caney CDPCensus-designated place
    467
  5. 17
    Shady Grove CDP (Cherokee County)Census place
    453
  6. 18
    Hulbert townIncorporated place
    444
  7. 19
    Steely Hollow CDPCensus-designated place
    342
  8. 20
    Eldon CDPCensus-designated place
    326
  9. 21
    Oaks townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    295
  10. 22
    Rocky Ford CDPCensus-designated place · spans 2 counties
    290
  11. 23
    Tenkiller CDPCensus-designated place
    285
  12. 24
    Barber CDPCensus-designated place
    280
  13. 25
    Lowrey CDPCensus-designated place
    264
  14. 26
    Dry Creek CDPCensus-designated place
    249
  15. 27
    Gideon CDPCensus-designated place
    219
  16. 28
    Sparrowhawk CDPCensus-designated place
    183
  17. 29
    Teresita CDPCensus-designated place
    157
  18. 30
    Pumpkin Hollow CDPCensus-designated place
    148
  19. 31
    Johnson Prairie CDPCensus-designated place
    142
  20. 32
    Caney Ridge CDPCensus-designated place
    88
  21. 33
    Etta CDPCensus-designated place
    87

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.204% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.54%

$911 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+78

1,202 in · 1,124 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$68

$44,152 arriving · $44,084 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors17.7%

75 of 424 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings157▲ 21.7% year over year
Median days on market71▼ 3.4% year over year
Listings price-reduced20.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 9.6% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Property-level flood insurance and loss history could make actual carrying costs materially different from the county-level screen.
  2. Median asking rent may not translate into signed leases, collections, or stabilized property-level income.
  3. Softer MLS listing conditions may not support the valuation or resale assumptions required for acquisition.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can HUD FMR be used to calculate gross yield?

No. The reported gross yield uses measured market asking rent; FMR is a payment standard.

Do Realtor.com figures establish a sale price?

No. They are MLS listing-market evidence, not closed-sale prices.

What does the QCEW employment figure measure?

It measures annual covered jobs at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or a forecast.