Best PlacesCotton County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cotton County, 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.
Cotton County ranks 2,616th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cotton 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.
Cotton County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cotton County ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 128 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of counties
- QuietBetter than 80% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 66% of counties
Where Cotton County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cotton County
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cotton County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,957, 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 Cotton County's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cotton County
Cotton County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cotton County.
Who works in Cotton County, and how
Work in Cotton County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cotton County
Cotton County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Cotton County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cotton County growing, and who is moving in?
Cotton County has lost about 10% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Lawton, OK metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cotton County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cotton County, month by month
Cotton County sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 40° | 28° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 50° |
| July | 98° | 85° | 72° |
| October | 79° | 64° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Cotton County
The nearest airport, Lawton-Fort Sill Regional, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cotton County
Schools across Cotton County average a D+, better than 10% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Walters EsC · 33% proficient
- Empire EsC · 33% proficient
- Geronimo EsC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Geronimo MsD+ · 24% proficient
- Walters MsD · 23% proficient
- Waurika MsD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Big Pasture HsD+ · 25% proficient
- Temple HsD+ · 25% proficient
- Grandfield HsD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cotton County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cotton 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 Cotton County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Cotton County
Is Cotton County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cotton County ranks 2,616th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a stable housing market, state finances, and the weather, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cotton County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $128,604. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $56,957 median income, cost of living beats 36% of counties.
Is Cotton County safe?
Cotton County is safer than 20% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $561 per resident a year.
Compare Cotton County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cotton County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cotton 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.
Cotton County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cotton County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cotton County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cotton County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cotton County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cotton 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.