Oracle, Arizona: Pima County's Median Price, 2,000 Feet Higher
Oracle, AZ closed 35 home sales at a $365,000 median in the year to September 2026, matching Pima County, but took 62 days to sell. What the fuel break means.
An unincorporated Pinal County town in the oak grassland north of the Santa Catalinas, about an hour's drive from downtown Tucson, where homes take longer to sell and the Forest Service is clearing a firebreak along two of its roads.
The median home that sold in Oracle over the twelve months ending September 30, 2026 closed at $365,000. That is the Pima County median to the dollar, over the same twelve months. The difference is everything around the price: Oracle is an unincorporated census-designated place in Pinal County, about 38 road miles and an hour's drive north of downtown Tucson, sitting at roughly 4,500 feet on the north side of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Downtown Tucson is about 2,480. The same money buys a smaller, older house there, in oak grassland country, and it buys it slowly.
- 35
- Residential closings in Oracle, October 2025 through September 2026, the same count as the year before
- $365,000
- Median sale price, identical to Pima County's over the same twelve months
- $213
- Median price per square foot, against $218 across Pima County
- 62.5 days
- Median days on market, against 38 in Pima County
- 1987
- Median year built of the homes that sold, against 1998 countywide
- 11
- Active residential listings on October 20, about 3.8 months of inventory at the trailing-year pace
What Does $365,000 Buy in Oracle?
The median Oracle home that sold had 1,623.5 square feet, against 1,776 across Pima County, and the median one was built in 1987. The spread is wide for a town of 35 sales: closing prices ran from $45,000 to $975,000, and construction years from 1938 to 2020. The Census Bureau's latest five-year estimate puts the median year built for all of Oracle's housing at 1985, so the homes that sold were about as old as the town's housing as a whole. Homes sold at 97% of their final list price, a point below the county's 98%, and 3 of the 35 sold over asking.
Are Oracle Home Prices Going Up or Down?
Neither, by much. Closings held at 35 in both twelve-month periods. The median sale price slipped 1.1%, from $369,000 to $365,000, and the median price per square foot from $216.07 to $213.31. What changed is what sold: the median home shrank from 1,965 to 1,623.5 square feet, so buyers paid roughly the same total for less house. The market did get a little quicker. Median days on market fell from 71.5 to 62.5, and the share of sellers who cut their price before closing fell from 45.7% to 42.9% — now level with Pima County's 43.1%. A 35-sale market moves on a handful of transactions, so read any of these changes as direction, not precision.
The Fuel Break Going in South of Town
As reported October 14, the Santa Catalina Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest plans to carry out phases 3, 4 and 5 of the Oracle Fuel Break from October 2026 through April 2027, depending on weather and final approvals. The work is on National Forest land directly south of town and adds a 300-foot fuel break over 42 acres in three sections next to private land. Phase 3 clears 20 acres reaching 150 feet from the pavement on both sides of Cody Loop Road; phases 4 and 5 cover 10 and 12 acres on both sides of Mount Lemmon Road. Cut material is chipped and hauled off-site. The first two phases covered 60 acres, the second ending with pile burns between August 11 and September 15. The Forest Service is explicit that a fuel break does not stop a fire: it changes fire behavior and intensity and gives crews an anchor for attack lines, and it needs maintenance every two to three years.
What Oracle Asks of a Buyer, a Seller and an Investor
For a buyer, the trade is altitude, oak and open land for a longer commute and a slower resale. Ask for a homeowners insurance quote early in the inspection period rather than after it, ask how the property is served for water and wastewater, and on a home built before the 1980s, ask for the age of the roof, plumbing and electrical in writing. The negotiating room is real but narrower than it was: 11 homes were listed on October 20 against a pace of about 2.9 sales a month, roughly 3.8 months of inventory, and 4 of the 11 had already been reduced. Read that as turnover, not as the single-month months-of-supply figure this site publishes for Pima County; one month of a 35-sale town is too small a denominator. For a seller, the median active asking price is $419,000, about $54,000 above the median sale of the last twelve months. Pricing from where homes have closed, not from where competing listings are asking, is the stronger start. For an investor, Oracle's pace is the thing to underwrite: at a 62.5-day median, plan the holding costs on two months or more of market time before a contract.
Two Reasons to Drive Up Before November Ends
Oracle State Park, a 4,000-acre wildlife refuge with more than 15 miles of trail, a section of the Arizona Trail and International Dark Sky Park status, is the easiest way to see the landscape before seeing houses. On Saturday, October 24, from 3 to 5 p.m., members of the Sonoran Plein Air Painters will work along the park's 1.2-mile Nature Trail loop, with views of the Galiuro Mountains. On Saturday, November 7, from 5 to 8 p.m., the park holds a star party.
Sources
LiveBy — Closed-sale statistics, property type Residential, Oracle census-designated-place boundary (5e78a3cc77d381411861b408), interval 2025-10-01/P1Y — accessed October 20, 2026 (35 closings; $365,000 median and $45,000–$975,000 range of close prices; 1987 median and 1938–2020 range of year built; 1,623.5-square-foot median living area; $213.31 median price per square foot; 62.5-day median days on market; 15 of 35 sales with a price reduction; 3 sold over asking; 0.97 sale-to-list ratio). LiveBy's responses credit MLS of Southern Arizona (MLSSAZ) and Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS).
LiveBy — Closed-sale statistics, same boundary and arguments, interval 2024-10-01/P1Y — accessed October 20, 2026 (35 closings; $369,000 median close price; 1,965-square-foot median living area; $216.07 median price per square foot; 71.5-day median days on market; 16 of 35 with a price reduction).
LiveBy — Active-listing statistics, property type Residential, status Active, same boundary — accessed October 20, 2026 (11 active listings; $419,000 median list price; 4 of 11 reduced).
LiveBy — Closed-sale statistics, property type Residential, Pima County boundary (5afc4af02f86c27281e528b1), interval 2025-10-01/P1Y — accessed October 20, 2026 (13,415 closings; $365,000 median close price; $218.00 median price per square foot; 1,776-square-foot median living area; 1998 median year built; 38-day median days on market; 43.06% price-reduction share; 0.98 sale-to-list ratio).
U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey 2020–2024 five-year estimates, table B25035 (Median Year Structure Built), Oracle CDP, Arizona (place 0451180) — api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/latest?table_ids=B25035&geo_ids=16000US0451180 — accessed October 20, 2026 (1985 median year built, margin of error ±8).
KVOA News 4 Tucson — "Crews begin major wildfire protection project south of Oracle" — kvoa.com/news/local/crews-begin-major-wildfire-protection-project-south-of-oracle/article_dc29353a-e109-4114-b469-2c8475b07d1f.html — published October 14, 2026, accessed October 20, 2026.
KVOA News 4 Tucson — "Smoke visible near Oracle as prescribed burns begin south of town" — kvoa.com/news/local/smoke-visible-near-oracle-as-prescribed-burns-begin-south-of-town/article_8c57ab8e-dbc3-4af1-8246-7fa9f4c50a4a.html — published August 12, 2026, accessed October 20, 2026 (phase 1, 34 acres; maintenance every two to three years).
Oracle Fire District — Past News, 2026 — oraclefire.org/PASTNEWS.htm — accessed October 20, 2026 (phase 2, August 11 to September 15, 2026, 60 acres).
Arizona State Parks — Oracle State Park — azstateparks.com/oracle — accessed October 20, 2026 (4,000-acre wildlife refuge; over 15 miles of trails; Arizona Trail; International Dark Sky Park; Star Party, November 7, 2026, 5–8 p.m.). Arizona State Parks — "Art on the Trail at Oracle State Park" — azstateparks.com/oracle/events/art-on-the-trail-at-oracle-state-park — accessed October 20, 2026 (October 24, 2026, 3–5 p.m.; 1.2-mile Nature Trail loop).
U.S. Census Bureau — Geocoder, geographies by coordinates (Census Designated Places and Counties layers) — geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/ — accessed October 20, 2026 (Oracle CDP, place 0451180, in Pinal County). OpenStreetMap / Project OSRM — driving route from downtown Tucson (32.2217° N, 110.9265° W) to central Oracle (32.6109° N, 110.7708° W) — router.project-osrm.org — accessed October 20, 2026 (about 38 miles, 63 minutes). U.S. Geological Survey — 3D Elevation Program point query service — epqs.nationalmap.gov — accessed October 20, 2026 (4,524 feet at 32.6109° N, 110.7708° W in central Oracle; 2,481 feet at 32.2217° N, 110.9265° W in downtown Tucson).
Percentage changes, the elevation difference, the asking-to-sale gap and the months-of-inventory figure are arithmetic on the figures above. MLS records for a closed period keep changing for weeks after it ends, so a re-run of any query here may differ slightly. This post is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase real estate. Kyle Berglund and Tierra Antigua Realty fully support and comply with the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.
Topics
- Oracle
- Pinal County
- Home Prices
- Days on Market
- Wildfire
- Oracle State Park
- Rural Homes
- Community Spotlight