WHAT THE STATE DISTRIBUTION SAYSThe statewide distribution is limited to 20 current published direct-evidence ZIP reports, not a census of every Oklahoma ZIP, neighborhood, or rental property. Within that evidence universe, Zillow’s observed asking-rent index has a $1,478.50 median, ranging from $878 to $1,874—a $996 spread. The practical question is therefore how much location-specific budget room is needed, rather than whether a single statewide rent describes a search. ZIP 74136 anchors the low end in the displayed comparisons, whereas ZIP 73012 anchors the high end. These are market-index observations, useful for comparison across the included reports, not quotes for a particular available home. For budgeting, the midpoint is only a reference across reports, not a typical unit price.
Affordability needs two lenses that should not be collapsed. The current asking-rent-to-median-income measure ranges from 17.0% to 35.4%, with a 22.3% median; it compares ZORI asking rent with area median household income. Separately, ACS five-year ZCTA estimates place the share of renter households paying 30% or more of gross rent between 38.9% and 54.4%, with a 45.2% median. For example, in ZIP 74104, the current index translates to $64,480 required annual income under a 30% rent-share rule, above its $54,691 median household income. The burden statistic is a survey-based household outcome, not a restatement of the current asking-rent ratio. Neither measure describes an individual household’s wages, payment, or eligibility.
Rent momentum is not a synonym for volatility. Direct monthly Zillow series show one-year annualized growth from -0.7% to 7.2%, centered on a 2.6% median. ZIP 74012 marks the high-growth endpoint, while ZIP 74136 shows a -0.6% one-year change. Annualized volatility, however, ranges from 1.5% to 3.4%, with a 2.5% median, so the growth ordering does not fully describe month-to-month variation. Historical maximum drawdown reached -4.2% in ZIP 74133. Use momentum, volatility, and drawdown together as descriptions of the index history; none identifies the rent that a future listing will command. These figures are historical measures, not projections.
HUD’s two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR benchmark is an administrative bedroom standard, not asking rent. Across the included distribution, direct asking rent is 70.2% to 128.2% of that benchmark; ZIP 74136 is below the benchmark and ZIP 73162 is above it. That comparison can frame a bedroom-specific administrative reference, but its gap cannot establish a property’s bedroom match, availability, condition, lease terms, or actual quoted rent. The income, gross-rent, vacancy, and burden measures are ACS five-year estimates for Census ZCTAs, which are statistical areas rather than identical USPS delivery ZIPs. Keep those geographies and measurement systems separate when interpreting a ZIP label. A ZIP label alone does not reconcile those different source geographies.
