Best PlacesIdabel, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Idabel, 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.
Idabel ranks 43,020th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Idabel
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.
Idabel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Idabel ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute19.4 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Idabel ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Household income$45,663 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Idabel
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Idabel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,663, 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 Idabel's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 Idabel
Idabel runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Idabel.
Who works in Idabel, and how
Work in Idabel centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Idabel
Idabel has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Idabel and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Idabel, month by month
Idabel sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 52° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Idabel
The nearest airport, Texarkana Regional-Webb Field, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Idabel
Schools across Idabel average a D, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Denison Public SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Central EsD+ · 21% proficient
- Forest Grove Public SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Idabel MsD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Idabel HsD · 18% proficient
- Valliant HsF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Idabel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Idabel 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 Idabel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Idabel
Is Idabel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Idabel ranks 43,020th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and state finances, and lowest on civic engagement and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Idabel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $145,744. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $45,663 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Idabel safe?
Idabel is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $613 per resident a year.
Compare Idabel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Idabel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Idabel 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.
Idabel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Idabel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Idabel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Idabel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Idabel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Idabel 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.