Best PlacesKay County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Kay County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kay County ranks 2,106th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kay 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 Kay County
The parts of Kay 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.
Ponca City
Fewer homes sit empty, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Tonkawa
Advertised internet is faster, though fewer residents vote.
Blackwell
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Newkirk
Homes cost less, though heat risk is higher.
Scores across Kay County run from about the 4th to the 79th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Kay County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kay County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Short commute18.9 minutes each way, better than 85% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 73% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 72% of counties
Where Kay County ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 13% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Kay County
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kay County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,582, 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 Kay County's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kay County
Kay County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kay County.
Who works in Kay County, and how
Work in Kay County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Kay County
Kay County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Kay County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Kay County growing, and who is moving in?
Kay County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Tulsa, OK.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Kay County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Kay County, month by month
Kay County sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Kay County
The nearest airport, Stillwater Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 220 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kay County
Schools across Kay County average a D+, better than 11% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Blackwell EsC+ · 38% proficient
- Mccord Public SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Kildare Public SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ponca City East MsD+ · 25% proficient
- Ponca City West MsD · 19% proficient
- Newkirk MsD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Ponca City HsC− · 27% proficient
- Tonkawa HsC− · 27% proficient
- Shidler HsD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kay County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kay 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 Kay County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Kay County suits
Common questions about living in Kay County
Is Kay County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kay County ranks 2,106th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, short commutes, and state finances, and lowest on civic engagement and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kay County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,659. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $62,582 median income, cost of living beats 54% of counties.
Is Kay County safe?
Kay County is safer than 44% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $455 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kay County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 26. That works out to about 110 pleasant days a year, more than 68% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kay County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ponca City, Tonkawa, and Blackwell. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Kay County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kay County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kay 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.
Kay County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kay County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kay County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kay County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kay County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kay 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.