TerraVue / Markets / Tulsa, OK
Over the past 20 years, Tulsa home prices have risen 3.74% a year; over the past three, 5.87%. TerraVue's forward estimate, which weights both, is 4.59%. That is 0.57pp above the national average — over a 10-year hold, that gap compounds into a meaningful difference in equity.
Appreciation is only one side of the buy-vs-rent question, but it's the side people guess at most badly. At the forward estimate of 4.59% a year, a home in Tulsa would gain roughly 57% in value over a decade — before any of the costs that actually decide the question: closing costs, maintenance, property tax, the mortgage interest you'd pay, and what your down payment would have earned invested instead.
Worth being explicit about what that estimate is: it blends the 20-year record (3.74%) with the last three years (5.87%), so a market in a sharp recent run-up or correction lands between the two rather than at either extreme. It is an estimate, not a forecast anyone can guarantee — which is exactly why TerraVue simulates a range of outcomes instead of quoting one number.
Rent is the other side. At a median of $1,248, the yearly rent bill in Tulsa is about $14,976. Whether buying beats that depends almost entirely on the price you'd pay and how long you'd stay — which is what the simulator is for.
This page describes the Tulsa market as a whole. Whether buying beats renting depends on the price you'd pay, your down payment, and how long you'd stay — TerraVue simulates about 1,000 market scenarios on those inputs and returns the probability, not a single guessed number. It'll start with 74133's real appreciation and rent already loaded.
Analyze a property free →Averages hide a lot. Across Tulsa's 24 ZIP codes, long-run appreciation ranges from 3.72% to 10.43% a year — a spread of 6.7 percentage points. Over a 10-year hold, that difference compounds into a substantially different outcome for two buyers in the same city.
| ZIP | Appreciation/yr | Recent 3yr | Rent | Bachelor's+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74116 | 10.43% | 19.06% | $804 | 8% |
| 74106 | 6.64% | 10.04% | $1,228 | 16% |
| 74115 | 6.38% | 9.63% | $1,114 | 8% |
| 74120 | 6.13% | 8.62% | $1,247 | 48% |
| 74110 | 6.03% | 8.60% | $1,092 | 8% |
| 74128 | 5.52% | 8.00% | $1,255 | 11% |
| 74134 | 5.18% | 7.68% | $1,405 | 31% |
| 74129 | 4.89% | 6.73% | $1,398 | 16% |
| 74107 | 4.80% | 6.94% | $1,026 | 19% |
| 74105 | 4.74% | 5.41% | $1,476 | 50% |
| 74146 | 4.44% | 6.17% | $1,133 | 9% |
| 74132 | 4.41% | 5.60% | $2,150 | 40% |
| 74114 | 4.33% | 4.77% | $1,524 | 58% |
| 74112 | 4.32% | 5.00% | $1,349 | 26% |
| 74108 | 4.30% | 4.75% | $813 | 13% |
| 74136 | 4.06% | 5.32% | $879 | 37% |
| 74015 | 4.00% | 5.37% | $1,008 | 22% |
| 74135 | 4.00% | 4.04% | $1,392 | 47% |
| 74145 | 3.89% | 4.45% | $1,315 | 26% |
| 74137 | 3.83% | 4.82% | $1,249 | 60% |
| 74133 | 3.82% | 4.45% | $1,201 | 43% |
| 74119 | 3.75% | 3.86% | $1,390 | 52% |
| 74104 | 3.72% | 2.77% | $1,497 | 43% |
| 74127 | 3.72% | 3.32% | $1,189 | 23% |
Sorted by long-run blended appreciation. Green is at least 0.5pp above the national average, red at least 0.5pp below; smaller gaps are left neutral. ZIPs shown as links have their own detail page.
Appreciation comes from the FHFA House Price Index — a repeat-sales index that tracks the same homes over time, which is why it isn't distorted by a change in the mix of what sold in a given year. TerraVue reads it at the ZIP level, back to 1975 where coverage allows.
The forward estimate blends 60% of the longest available look-back (20 years where available) with 40% of the most recent 3 years. Long-run history is the more reliable signal, but a market that has genuinely changed pace should not be ignored — the 60/40 split is the compromise, and it's the same figure TerraVue's simulation uses.
The national comparison is the population-weighted average of these same blended ZIP-level figures, so it compares like with like.
It depends on the price of the specific home and how long you'd stay. What the data settles is the market backdrop: over the past 20 years Tulsa, OK home prices have risen about 3.74% a year, and TerraVue's forward estimate is 4.59% — above the national average of 4.02% — against a median rent near $1,248. TerraVue runs about 1,000 scenarios on a specific price to return the probability that buying beats renting, plus the breakeven year.
Over the past 20 years, about 3.74% a year; over the past three, 5.87%. TerraVue's forward estimate blends the two at 4.59%. All of it comes from FHFA repeat-sales data across 24 ZIP codes, and individual ZIPs range from 3.72% to 10.43% on that same forward basis.
74116 at 10.43% a year, versus 74127 at 3.72% — a spread of about 6.7 percentage points a year within the same city.
Around $1,248 — the median across the city's ZIP codes, from the Census ACS median gross rent, 2-bedroom.