What salary do you need to live in Tulsa, OK?

Rent, home values and prices in Tulsa

A one-bedroom in Tulsa rents for a median of $889 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,085 and a three-bedroom for $1,302. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $13,020.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Tulsa, OK at $221,700. Against a median household income of $69,359, the ratio is 3.2× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 89.2, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 10.8% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $112,090 would at average US prices.

How much you need to earn in Tulsa

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $27,000, Okay at $54,000 and Comfortable at $108,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 12% of income and the median home is 2.1× income.

Reaching Royal takes $297,000 — 2.8× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

What different incomes look like in Tulsa

Choosing a bigger place in Tulsa at $75,000 trims the score from 58 to 52 without leaving Okay.

Of the four salaries, $150,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $100,000 still lands at Okay.

Tulsa on the national list

Out of 387 metros, Tulsa has the 307th highest price parity and the 230th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the bottom quarter on overall prices and in the middle half on rent.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Logan, UT-ID ($1,086) and Iowa City, IA ($1,084).

Tulsa in a Oklahoma context

Compared with Oklahoma as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Tulsa is 9% higher ($1,085 vs. $993) and the median home is 11% higher ($221,700 vs. $199,800).

The Oklahoma figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $95,000 against $108,000 for Tulsa.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving Oklahoma? Oklahoma City, OK, Lawton, OK, and Enid, OK have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

Where the typical Tulsa household lands

The median household in the metro earns $69,359 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 53, Okay. That falls $38,641 short of the $108,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Oklahoma as a whole, the median household income of $65,039 scores 54 against statewide rents. Household income can include more than one earner, so a single salary of the same size goes less far.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.