Best PlacesBig Oak Flat, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Oak Flat, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Big Oak Flat ranks 42,834th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Big Oak Flat
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Big Oak Flat's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Oak Flat ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 76% of towns
- QuietBetter than 73% of towns
Where Big Oak Flat ranks low
- Short commute66.1 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Oak Flat
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Oak Flat home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,434, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Big Oak Flat's effective rate of 0.64%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Big Oak Flat
Big Oak Flat runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Big Oak Flat.
Who works in Big Oak Flat, and how
Work in Big Oak Flat centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Big Oak Flat
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Oak Flat.
What the weather is like in Big Oak Flat, month by month
Big Oak Flat sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 43° |
| July | 97° | 79° | 61° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Big Oak Flat
The nearest airport, Merced Yosemite Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 95 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Oak Flat
Schools across Big Oak Flat average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Don Pedro ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Greeley Hill ElementaryD · 17% proficient
- Tenaya ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Don Pedro HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Oak Flat school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Oak Flat measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Big Oak Flat against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Oak Flat
Is Big Oak Flat a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Oak Flat ranks 42,834th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, a strong job market, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Oak Flat expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $364,032. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $74,434 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Big Oak Flat safe?
Big Oak Flat is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
Compare Big Oak Flat with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Oak Flat. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Oak Flat represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Big Oak Flat detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Oak Flat: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Oak Flat: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Oak Flat: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Oak Flat: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Oak Flat detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.