Jay, Oklahoma.
Typical home $243,195 (+6.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$699 (+121%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $14,200 +6%
- $228,995$243,195 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $31,841 +15%
- $211,353$243,195 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Jay$1,276
- Oklahoma$1,159
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 25 years.
Typical home values in Jay, OK rose 6.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Jay, Delaware County, Oklahoma
Jay is a city of 2,425 people in Delaware County. Half its households earn more than $38,094 a year and half less, against $56,676 across Delaware County; 24% of its people live below the poverty line. 61% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 39% are rented. Unemployment in Delaware County was 4.0% in August 2026, and the county had 1.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Jay is a small city in Delaware County, in the Ozark foothills of northeastern Oklahoma. Residents are younger than in many American towns, and incomes here run well below the county's. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and relatively few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold and summers hot, with a good deal of rain and melted snow over the year.
Work. Many people in Jay work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops, and restaurants and hotels also employing a good share. Across Delaware County, some of the largest workplaces are Grove Schools, Walmart and Integris Grove Hospital. Few people work from home, and the typical commute is a fairly long one.
Things to do. Lake Eucha and Lake Eucha Park are a short drive away, as is Beaty Creek, a river good for a quiet afternoon outdoors. The Ozark Plateau National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, is also a short drive away. For a longer outing, Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, a large reservoir, lies a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 953households
- 11%of adults have a degree
- 24%below the poverty line
- 28 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Delaware County had 9,739 jobs in 2025, 1.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 49° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 91° and lows near 67°. About 49 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Upper Spavinaw Port weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Delaware County
- Riggs Tree ServiceArborist services565
- Grove SchoolsSchool district344FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters335
- JAY SchoolsSchool district268FTE
- Integris Grove HospitalGeneral hospital245FTE
- East175
- Valence Surface TechnologiesPlating metals and metal products for the trade175
- Cobb-vantressChicken egg production160
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 18 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,475 people in all across the county; Jay has two of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Ice stormsVery high
- Strong windVery high
- TornadoesVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Jay’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Delaware County.
Jay home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Jay$243,195
- Oklahoma$220,801
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Jay listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Jay17.89%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Jay62
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Jay10
Zip codes with a Jay address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Jay — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.