All-items parity
87.8
US = 100.0
Oklahoma (OK) | All-items parity 87.8
Oklahoma Cost of Living 2026
Oklahoma reads 87.8 on the BEA all-items price parity for 2024, placing it among the three cheapest states in the country, with housing rents at 62.8 and a median home of $222,100. Oklahoma City and Tulsa deliver NBA-and-airport metro life at prices almost no other million-plus metro matches, the state abolished its grocery sales tax, and income tax runs a moderate 2.5-4.5%. The honest costs are hail-and-tornado insurance and a healthcare system with the nation's near-highest uninsured rate.
Bottom-three price levelState grocery tax abolishedMedian home $222,100
Median Home
$222,100
2BR rent $1,032/mo
Median Income
$66,148
Household, Census ACS
Category breakdown
The four BEA price parities vs the nation
| Category | OK index | National avg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| All items | 87.8 | 100.0 | -12.2% |
| Services: housing rents | 62.8 | 100.6 | -37.6% |
| Goods | 93.8 | 99.6 | -5.8% |
| Services: utilities | 73.9 | 98.4 | -24.9% |
| Services: other | 95.5 | 100.1 | -4.6% |
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes these four component parities and no others. There is no federal grocery, healthcare or transportation price parity, so this table shows none. Food at home sits inside Goods; medical and transport services sit inside Services: other.
Sources: BEA Regional Price Parities by State (table SARPP), 2024 reference year, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Census ACS 2024 1-year (median income, home value), Oklahoma Tax Commission (income and sales tax), Tax Foundation (effective property tax), EIA (electricity rates), KFF (uninsured rate).
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Pros / offsets
What works in Oklahoma.
Metro life at the national floor. Oklahoma City and Tulsa are consistently among the cheapest large metros in America: renovated homes in walkable districts (OKC’s Plaza, Tulsa’s Kendall-Whittier) in the $200,000s, median two-bedroom rent of $1,032, and commutes that rarely break twenty minutes.
The grocery tax is gone at state level. Oklahoma abolished its state sales tax on groceries in 2024, one of the most direct cost-of-living cuts any state has passed recently; localities may still add theirs, but the 4.5% state share came off every food bill.
Cheap energy from an energy state. Electricity at 12.10 cents per kWh and natural gas averaging $72 a month keep utilities near the bottom of national tables; the utilities parity of 73.9 confirms it.
Tulsa pays you to try it. Tulsa Remote, the longest-running paid-relocation program in the country, has drawn thousands of remote workers with $10,000 grants, and the cost base is why they stay: a professional salary against Tulsa housing banks savings fast.
Cons / drivers
Where Oklahoma costs more.
Severe-weather insurance erodes the housing bargain. Sitting at the heart of hail and tornado country, Oklahoma has some of the highest homeowners-insurance premiums in the nation relative to home value; roof claims are near-routine, and the insurance line can run a third of the mortgage payment on a cheap house.
The uninsured rate is the nation's worst tier. At 13.2%, Oklahoma's uninsured share is among the highest anywhere even after Medicaid expansion passed by ballot, and rural hospital closures have thinned access outside the two metros.
Wages sit low. Median household income of $66,148 trails the nation by a wide margin; like its cheap-state peers, Oklahoma rewards imported salaries and pensions more than local paychecks.
Sales taxes stack past the sticker. The 4.5% state rate attracts city and county add-ons that push combined rates to 8.5 to 10%+ in the metros, among the higher combined burdens in the country, the classic low-property-tax trade.
Tax + benefit signals
Oklahoma tax and access overview
State income tax
2.5-4.5%
Graduated or flat
Property tax effective
0.85%
Of assessed value, annual
Sales tax (state)
4.50%
Local can add 1-4% more
Uninsured rate
13.2%
Medicaid: expanded
Your take-home pay in Oklahoma
Federal, Oklahoma and any local income tax on your salary, per paycheck.
The mortgage on a $222,100 home
Monthly payment at today’s rates with Oklahoma property tax (0.85%) and average home insurance.
Metro variation
State averages mask city variation.
Oklahoma averages 87.8 on the BEA all-items parity, and its markets barely deviate from it:
Oklahoma City: The capital and largest metro, with energy headquarters, Tinker Air Force Base and a diversifying downtown. Edmond and Nichols Hills carry the premium; most of the metro trades near the state median.
Tulsa: Art-deco downtown, the Gathering Place, and the Tulsa Remote pipeline. Midtown is the premium pocket; Broken Arrow and Owasso are the family-suburb value plays.
Norman and Stillwater: The university towns run slightly firmer on rents but stay cheap by any national college-town comparison.
Rural Oklahoma: Among the cheapest housing in the United States, with the thinnest healthcare; many counties have no hospital at all.
There is no expensive Oklahoma: the question is metro amenity versus rural austerity, both at the national price floor.
Frequently Asked
Oklahoma cost of living, answered
Is Oklahoma really one of the cheapest states?
Yes, by the federal measure it sits in the bottom three: an all-items price parity of 87.8 against the national 100, with housing rents pricing at 62.8. A $222,100 median home and $1,032 median two-bedroom rent put ownership and renting within reach of incomes that would be priced out almost anywhere else. Only Mississippi and Arkansas contest the bottom slots.
Did Oklahoma really abolish its grocery tax?
The state portion, yes: legislation effective August 2024 removed Oklahoma's 4.5% state sales tax from groceries, one of the largest single cost-of-living cuts passed by any state in years. City and county sales taxes can still apply to food, so the till is not always zero, but the state share is gone. On spending, Oklahoma households average $378 a month on groceries, near the national low.
Why is home insurance so expensive in Oklahoma?
Hail and tornadoes. Oklahoma sits in the most active severe-convective-storm corridor in the world, insurers price roof replacement as a recurring cost rather than a tail risk, and premiums relative to home value rank among the highest in the nation. On a $200,000 home the annual premium can rival states where the house costs three times as much. Always quote insurance before buying, and favor newer roofs and hail-rated materials.
What is Tulsa Remote?
A privately funded relocation program (George Kaiser Family Foundation) paying remote workers $10,000 plus community programming to move to Tulsa, running since 2018 with thousands of participants, the model every later copycat program imitated. The grant is nice; the arithmetic is the real pitch: a coastal remote salary against Tulsa's housing and the state's bottom-three price level compounds savings quickly.
How does Oklahoma tax income and retirement?
Brackets run 2.5-4.5%, mild by national standards. Social Security is fully exempt, and Oklahoma excludes up to $10,000 per person of other retirement income from tax. Combined with a 0.85% property tax and the abolished state grocery tax, a typical retiree's state-tax footprint is small; the budget lines that bite here are insurance and healthcare, not taxes.
Oklahoma City or Tulsa: which is the better value?
They are remarkably close on cost; both are bottom-five big metros nationally. OKC is larger, with more federal and energy employment and slightly cheaper housing on average; Tulsa counters with the Remote program, a more celebrated urban core and marginally better walkability. The practical answer is job-first: whichever metro holds your industry, the other is an hour and a half up the turnpike at the same prices.