Which Oklahoma counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 77 Oklahoma counties we have scored, Choctaw County scores highest at 97 and Cimarron County lowest at 78. Oklahoma ranks 13th of 50 overall, at 90 out of 100 (Good with caveats). Water separates its counties most: 10 to 24 out of 25.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 77 counties · 384 spots of private rural land scored

Good with caveatsOklahoma ranks 13th of 50, 90 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #10 and #19. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in Oklahoma, best score first

Find a county77 counties


Choctaw → 19 people / sq mi	97	24	20	14	15	14	10
Bryan → 54 people / sq mi	96	24	20	14	14	14	10
Atoka → 15 people / sq mi	95	24	19	14	14	14	10
Carter → 59 people / sq mi	95	24	20	14	13	14	10
Haskell → 21 people / sq mi	95	23	20	14	13	15	10
Johnston → 16 people / sq mi	95	23	20	14	13	15	10
Marshall → 43 people / sq mi	95	24	20	14	14	14	9
Seminole → 37 people / sq mi	95	24	20	14	12	15	10
Jefferson → 7 people / sq mi	94	21	20	13	15	15	10
Le Flore → 31 people / sq mi	94	22	19	14	14	15	10
Mayes → 61 people / sq mi	93	22	20	15	12	14	10
Murray → 33 people / sq mi	93	22	20	14	14	14	9
Okfuskee → 18 people / sq mi	93	23	19	14	13	14	10
Ottawa → 64 people / sq mi	93	23	20	14	14	13	9
Cherokee → 64 people / sq mi	92	22	20	15	12	13	10
Craig → 19 people / sq mi	92	21	20	15	15	14	7
Creek → 77 people / sq mi	92	24	20	14	14	13	7
Custer → 29 people / sq mi	92	18	20	14	15	15	10
Delaware → 57 people / sq mi	92	22	20	15	12	13	10
Garfield → 59 people / sq mi	92	21	19	13	14	15	10
Garvin → 32 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	13	15	10
Hughes → 17 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	13	13	9
Logan → 71 people / sq mi	92	21	20	14	13	14	10
Love → 20 people / sq mi	92	22	19	14	14	13	10
Major → 8 people / sq mi	92	20	20	13	15	14	10
Payne → 122 people / sq mi	92	22	18	14	14	14	10
Pontotoc → 53 people / sq mi	92	22	20	14	14	13	9
Pottawatomie → 94 people / sq mi	92	23	20	14	11	14	10
Caddo → 21 people / sq mi	91	20	20	14	15	12	10
Cleveland → 559 people / sq mi	91	23	19	14	11	14	10
Coal → 10 people / sq mi	91	23	20	14	14	13	7
Grant → 4 people / sq mi	91	19	20	13	14	15	10
Kay → 48 people / sq mi	91	19	20	14	13	15	10
Kingfisher → 17 people / sq mi	91	21	20	13	13	14	10
Latimer → 13 people / sq mi	91	23	19	14	12	14	9
McClain → 83 people / sq mi	91	23	20	14	11	14	9
McIntosh → 32 people / sq mi	91	22	20	14	14	14	7
Noble → 15 people / sq mi	91	18	20	14	14	15	10
Pawnee → 28 people / sq mi	91	19	20	14	14	14	10
Sequoyah → 60 people / sq mi	91	22	20	14	14	14	7
Stephens → 51 people / sq mi	91	20	20	13	14	15	9
Tillman → 8 people / sq mi	91	19	20	13	15	14	10
Wagoner → 159 people / sq mi	91	23	20	14	11	13	10
Washita → 11 people / sq mi	91	19	20	14	15	13	10
Alfalfa → 7 people / sq mi	90	18	20	13	15	14	10
Blaine → 9 people / sq mi	90	20	20	14	15	12	9
Canadian → 196 people / sq mi	90	21	20	14	11	14	10
Cotton → 9 people / sq mi	90	18	20	13	15	14	10
Dewey → 4 people / sq mi	90	20	20	14	15	12	9
Grady → 52 people / sq mi	90	22	20	14	11	14	9
Muskogee → 82 people / sq mi	90	22	20	14	14	13	7
Okmulgee → 53 people / sq mi	90	23	20	14	13	13	7
Osage → 21 people / sq mi	90	19	19	14	14	14	10
Pushmataha → 8 people / sq mi	90	23	17	14	15	14	7
Woodward → 16 people / sq mi	90	19	20	14	15	12	10
Adair → 34 people / sq mi	89	21	20	15	13	13	7
Jackson → 31 people / sq mi	89	17	20	13	15	14	10
Kiowa → 8 people / sq mi	89	18	20	13	14	14	10
Lincoln → 36 people / sq mi	89	22	20	14	11	13	9
Oklahoma → 1141 people / sq mi	89	21	20	14	10	14	10
Comanche → 114 people / sq mi	88	17	19	13	14	15	10
Pittsburg → 33 people / sq mi	88	23	19	14	12	14	6
Tulsa → 1198 people / sq mi	88	21	20	14	13	13	7
Ellis → 3 people / sq mi	87	17	20	14	14	12	10
Nowata → 17 people / sq mi	87	18	20	14	15	13	7
Rogers → 148 people / sq mi	87	21	20	14	11	14	7
Harper → 3 people / sq mi	86	15	20	14	15	12	10
Washington → 129 people / sq mi	86	18	20	14	14	13	7
Beckham → 24 people / sq mi	85	18	20	14	14	10	9
Greer → 9 people / sq mi	85	17	20	13	14	11	10
McCurtain → 17 people / sq mi	85	22	19	14	11	13	6
Woods → 7 people / sq mi	85	17	19	14	14	11	10
Roger Mills → 3 people / sq mi	84	18	20	14	13	10	9
Beaver → 3 people / sq mi	82	16	18	14	14	10	10
Harmon → 5 people / sq mi	81	10	20	13	15	13	10
Texas → 10 people / sq mi	81	16	17	14	15	9	10
Cimarron → 1 people / sq mi	78	14	17	15	15	7	10

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

93% of Oklahoma's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Choctaw, Bryan and Atoka. The weakest are Cimarron, Harmon and Texas. Where the land falls short, it is most often on building (slope, septic and land price) and growing food (season, soil and water for crops).

What separates them

Water: Choctaw County scores 24 of 25, Harmon County 10. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water.
Food: Haskell County scores 15 of 15, Cimarron County 7. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.
Buildability: Choctaw County scores 10 of 10, McCurtain County 6. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Hazard: Choctaw County scores 15 of 15, Oklahoma County 10. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel.
Legal: Choctaw County scores 20 of 20, Cimarron County 17. Whether you can reach the land and live on it: road access, distance to emergency care, internet and cell, and how built up the area is, which decides how many lot-size, livestock, and zoning rules you will meet.

Solar barely moves across the sample: the counties score within two points of each other there, so those are state-level facts, not county choices.

The state's soft spot

Water is Oklahoma's weakest dimension, at 20 of 25 for the state as a whole. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $29k to $94k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full Oklahoma row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in Oklahoma

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in Oklahoma? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Good with caveatsOklahoma: 90 of 100, 13th of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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