All homes and bedroom counts
Markets / Washington / Oak Harbor
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Oak Harbor, WA
Investigate Oak Harbor if you prioritize rent momentum and positive job growth; avoid it if you require a strong entry yield or easy acquisition affordability.
Median price$647k
Median rent$2,052
Gross yield3.8%
Job growth▲ 0.8%
Composite Market ScoreRank #157 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Oak Harbor, WA?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $2,052 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 4.83% from a year earlier.
Occupied rental units paying rent
Two-bedroom standard
These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.
Exact county schedules
HUD rent benchmarks inside Oak Harbor
Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.
| County | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Island County, WAFIPS 53029 | $1,172 | $1,356 | $1,671 | $2,324 | $2,733 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Investigate Oak Harbor if you prioritize rent momentum and positive job growth; avoid it if you require a strong entry yield or easy acquisition affordability. Median asking rent rose 4.83% and LAUS jobs rose 0.8%; however, at a $647,301 median home value, gross yield is 3.8%.
The opportunity is that rent growth exceeded the 0.57% home-value increase. Median asking rent is $2,052, net migration was positive at 158 households, and incoming movers’ average income exceeded outgoing movers’ by $16,454. These are favorable demand indicators, but they do not establish property-level occupancy or collections.
Supply signals are not uniformly tight: the record lists 364 permits and 3.3 months of supply. Acquisition affordability is also weak at a 7.15 price-to-income ratio. Earthquake is the dominant hazard, so property condition and insurance terms need verification before underwriting.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What income return does current pricing imply?
Published median asking rent is $2,052 against a $647,301 median home value, producing a 3.8% gross yield; expenses and net yield are not published.
How much for-sale supply and listing liquidity are visible?
The record reports 3.3 months of supply, 18 median days on market, and 364 total permits; permit timing and unit mix are not published.
What hazard exposure does the record identify?
Earthquake is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1506% of building value; property-level seismic condition and insurance terms are not published.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 3.8%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 4.83%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 5.9%
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Oak Harbor as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
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Market pulse
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Months of supply3.3 mo.▼ from 3.6 mo. a year ago
Median days on market18 days▲ from 13 days a year ago
Listings with price drops30.6%▲ from 25.1% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio99.3%2026-05-01
Home value growth▲ 0.6%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 4.83%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield3.8%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.8%LAUS · 12m to 2026-05
Release-to-release evidence
What actually changed
This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.
Published score held steady59→59
0 ptsThe published component scores did not move in this release.
Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.
The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.
The one chart
Rents versus prices, indexed to 2019
Both series start at 100. The gap between the lines is the investment case, and which line is closing it tells you what kind of market this is.
Reindexed Price vs. Rent Growth
2019 = 100 · annual · 2019–2026
Since 2019, prices are up 52% and rents 51%. Prices running ahead of rents is what compresses yield. ✓ recomputed from series
Composite breakdown
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
59| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 76 | 30% | 22.80 |
| Rent trend | 71 | 25% | 17.75 |
| Affordability | 35 | 15% | 5.25 |
| Supply pressure | 40 | 15% | 6.00 |
| Climate risk | 45 | 15% | 6.75 |
| Published score | 59 | ||
Oak Harbor, WA scoreRank #157
59Job growth76/100
LAUS jobs rose 0.8% -> employment is moving in a favorable direction, but job levels and sectors are not published.
Rent trend71/100
Asking rent rose 4.83% while gross yield is 3.8% -> rent momentum is favorable, while income return at current pricing is the constraint.
Affordability35/100
The $647,301 median value and 7.15 price-to-income ratio -> acquisition affordability is the market’s clearest weakness.
Supply pressure40/100
The market has 3.3 months of supply, 18 median days on market, and 364 permits -> short resale timing coexists with a visible permitting pipeline.
Climate risk45/100
Earthquake is the dominant hazard and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1506% -> the published loss ratio does not replace property-level seismic and insurance review.
The numbers
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
ZHVI Median Price
$647k
YoY ▲ 0.6%
ZORI Median Rent
$2,052
YoY ▲ 4.83%
Gross Rental Yield
3.8%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$2,052 × 12 ÷ $647,301
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.8%
LAUS payrolls
Job signal 76/100
Median Household Income
$91k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
27.2%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
7.2x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,671
Market rent 122.8% of FMR
Historical affordability context
Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.
Independent rent evidence
One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks
These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.
Monthly benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$2,052Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30
All homes and bedroom counts
A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.
View source release ↗$1,356−$696 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
One-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,671−$381 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
Two-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,662−$390 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year
Occupied rental units paying rent
A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.
View source release ↗Take the next step
Keep Oak Harbor as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Supply pipeline
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
National supply context
Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.
Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
364 units authorised in 2026, 54% of them in 5+ unit buildings. A meaningful share is apartments, which discount first when they lease up. ✓ recomputed from series
Who is arriving, and who is buying
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
Net Household Move
+158
3,844 in vs 3,686 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 4.1% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$16,454
Arriving $89,408 vs leaving $72,954
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
5.9%
62 of 1,051 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
earthquake
0.151% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: other
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Snohomish County · King County · Skagit County · San Diego County · Whatcom County
✓ 3,844 in − 3,686 out = 158 netDirect market links
Where tax-return households moved from and to
These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.
Leading inbound markets
- Seattle, WA1,103 arriving
- Mount Vernon, WA208 arriving
- San Diego, CA129 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Seattle, WA835 leaving
- Mount Vernon, WA242 leaving
- Bellingham, WA140 leaving
The other side
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- The 3.8% gross yield is before unreported operating costs, leaving net yield unknown.
- The $647,301 median value and 7.15 price-to-income ratio indicate weak acquisition affordability.
- Earthquake is the dominant hazard, and property-level seismic condition and insurance pricing are not published.
Inside this micro area
Move from the market-area average to local evidence
Use the available county and city pages to add local price, rent, housing, migration and hazard context to the market-area view.
County records
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Oak Harbor
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Harbor, WA (Target) | 59 | $647k | $2,052 | 3.8% | ▲ 0.8% |
| Mount Vernon, WA | 53 | $590k | $2,143 | 4.4% | ▲ 0.5% |
| Durango, CO | 31 | $692k | $2,019 | 3.5% | ▲ 0.1% |
| Coeur d'Alene, ID | 59 | $609k | $1,829 | 3.6% | ▲ 0.9% |
| Laconia, NH | 61 | $520k | $2,003 | 4.6% | ▲ 0.7% |
Provenance
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rent | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — historical household income | direct | ACS 2019 and 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent index | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| BEA County Personal Income — income and population | direct | 2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levels | direct | 2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wages | direct | May 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15) | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-08-02 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA | 2026-08-08 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 2025 | 2026-08-02 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income band | direct | HUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23) | 2026-08-03 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalk | direct | HUD-USPS 2026Q1 | 2026-08-09 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-06 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rents | direct | top-50 rental asking rents 2026-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply | direct | ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-12 |
| USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | direct | USDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2026-08-02 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusted | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv | 2026-08-15 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-08-08 |