McIntosh County

McIntosh County scores 74 overall and lands in the 91st percentile nationally out of 1,000 counties, with an 11th-place finish among Oklahoma's 77 counties. The median home price sits at $200,796, up 3.52% year over year, and the county's appreciation score of 82 is the clearest signal about where its value proposition lies. The cash flow score, however, is 0, which tells you immediately that this is not a market where you buy off the shelf and expect the numbers to work on day one. No cap rate or cash-on-cash return is calculable from the provided data, so any investor underwriting a deal here needs to build those figures from the ground up using actual local rents and expenses rather than relying on county-level averages.

The investor profile this county suits is an appreciation-oriented buyer comfortable holding through early negative or break-even cash flow, or a value-add operator who can manufacture equity and force rent growth to close the gap. The affordability index of 87 and a median price of roughly $200,800 mean entry barriers are relatively modest, but affordability alone does not create cash flow; the rent side of the equation is where this market appears to fall short of supporting meaningful monthly income at prevailing prices and a 6.85% interest rate. If you are a pure cash-flow buyer who needs a day-one spread, the 0 cash flow score is a hard stop. If you are running a BRRRR or repositioning play, the price point gives you room to acquire below replacement cost and the 3.52% annual appreciation trend provides a reasonable tailwind on the back end.

No economic anchor data was provided for McIntosh County, so no conclusions can be drawn here about specific employers, job stability, or institutional drivers of rental demand. That absence is itself worth noting: before committing capital to a county with a population of 19,159, an investor should independently verify what is actually sustaining household formation and renter demand. Small-population rural Oklahoma markets can see outsized volatility when a single employer or industry contracts, and that kind of concentration risk is difficult to hedge.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance load works out to $271, based on Oklahoma's state-average effective property tax rate of 0.90% and an insurance rate of 0.72%. That is a material line item on a $200,796 purchase, representing roughly $3,253 annually before mortgage, maintenance, or management. The 0.90% tax rate is flagged as normal, so it does not dramatically skew the underwrite in either direction. That said, the note accompanying this figure is worth internalizing: it is a state-average estimate from the Tax Foundation's 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in McIntosh may differ. Pull the county assessor's published millage rate before finalizing your model, because even a 0.2-point variance on a $200,000 asset moves your annual tax bill by $400.

The demographic risk in a county of fewer than 20,000 people is concentration by default. A thin renter pool means vacancy events hit harder, rent growth depends on limited competing demand, and liquidity at exit is narrower than in a metro feeder county. None of this is disqualifying for the right deal structure, but it does mean underwriting conservatively on vacancy, avoiding over-improvement relative to neighborhood rent ceilings, and sizing the hold period to allow the appreciation thesis time to play out.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the dataset, McIntosh's $200,796 median price is above Comanche ($150,944), Texas ($162,139), Adair ($168,812), and Pawnee ($170,901), and just below Kingfisher at $225,453. Comanche County is the only neighbor with enough data to run a rent-to-price ratio, and at 0.0837 it generates a gross yield that McIntosh likely cannot match at its current price point. Comanche and Texas County both score 76 overall, two points above McIntosh's 74, though Kingfisher and Adair sit at 72. If your primary objective is monthly cash flow, Comanche County at $150,944 median with a documented rent-to-price ratio of 8.4% is the stronger candidate. If you are prioritizing appreciation potential and are willing to absorb thinner near-term income, McIntosh's 82 appreciation score is the highest signal in this peer group, and its 91st-percentile national ranking suggests the market is at least being recognized for price trajectory relative to most of the country. Choose McIntosh when the appreciation thesis fits your timeline and you have a credible way to underwrite cash flow from actual property-level data, not county averages.