Best PlacesLive Oak, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Live Oak, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Live Oak ranks 4,821st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Live Oak
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.
Live Oak's strengths and weaknesses
Where Live Oak ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where Live Oak ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Live Oak
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Live Oak home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $105,397, 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 Live Oak's effective rate of 1.38%, 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 Live Oak
Live Oak runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Live Oak.
Who works in Live Oak, and how
Work in Live Oak centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Live Oak
Live Oak has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Live Oak and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Live Oak, month by month
Live Oak sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 75° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Live Oak
San Antonio International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 87 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Live Oak
Schools across Live Oak average a C+, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Crestview ElB · 45% proficient
- Olympia ElC+ · 38% proficient
- Miller Point ElC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- White MiddleC · 34% proficient
- Judson MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Wood MiddleC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Judson Early College AcademyA+ · 80% proficient
- Roosevelt H SC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Live Oak school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Live Oak 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 Live Oak against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Live Oak
Is Live Oak a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Live Oak ranks 4,821st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and what local pay buys, and lowest on summer heat and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Live Oak expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $259,605. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $105,397 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Live Oak safe?
Live Oak is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Live Oak with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Live Oak. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Live Oak 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.
Live Oak detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Live Oak: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Live Oak: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Live Oak: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Live Oak: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Live Oak 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.