Best PlacesCleveland County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cleveland County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cleveland County ranks 733rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $85,447, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are air quality, state infrastructure, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in Cleveland County
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.
The best areas in Cleveland County
The parts of Cleveland County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Newalla
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and tree cover is thicker.
Oklahoma City & Moore
More households have young kids, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Norman
Biking is better, though prices have run up more.
Noble, Lexington & Slaughterville
It is quieter, though streets are more car-dependent.
Cleveland County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Cleveland County's strengths and weaknesses
Cleveland County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Cell coverage, what local pay buys, and transit carry most of that.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and civic engagement also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Cleveland County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of counties
- TransitBetter than 90% of counties
- BikingBetter than 89% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of counties
Where Cleveland County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of counties
- Cheap childcare$968 a month, better than only 19% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cleveland County
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cleveland County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,447, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Cleveland County's effective rate of 0.92%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cleveland County
Cleveland County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cleveland County.
Who works in Cleveland County, and how
Work in Cleveland County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Cleveland County
Cleveland County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 70% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cleveland County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cleveland County growing, and who is moving in?
Cleveland County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Oklahoma City, OK metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cleveland County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cleveland County, month by month
Cleveland County sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 73° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 75° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Cleveland County
The nearest airport, Okc Will Rogers International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cleveland County
Schools across Cleveland County average a C−, better than 23% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- South Lake EsA · 62% proficient
- Schwartz EsA− · 60% proficient
- Oakridge EsA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brink JhsB+ · 49% proficient
- Southridge JhsB · 45% proficient
- Whittier MsC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Norman North HsB+ · 52% proficient
- Norman HsC · 35% proficient
- Westmoore HsC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cleveland County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cleveland County 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 Cleveland County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cleveland County suits
Families
Schools land around the 23rd percentile and crime safety beats 81%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Cleveland County
Is Cleveland County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cleveland County ranks 733rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, what local pay buys, and transit, and lowest on air quality and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cleveland County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,054. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $85,447 median income, cost of living beats 93% of counties.
Is Cleveland County safe?
Yes, Cleveland County is safer than 81% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $352 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cleveland County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 30. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cleveland County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Newalla, Oklahoma City & Moore, and Norman. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cleveland County good for families?
Schools beat 23% of counties, crime safety beats 81%, and childcare runs $968 a month.
Is Cleveland County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 84% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cleveland County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cleveland County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cleveland County 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.
Cleveland County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cleveland County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cleveland County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cleveland County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cleveland County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cleveland County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.