Best PlacesMurray County, OK Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Murray 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Murray County ranks 2,167th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Air quality pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low property taxes.

#2,167
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Murray County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Murray County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Murray County's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Murray County with other counties.

Where Murray County ranks high

  • Low property taxBetter than 87% of counties
  • State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of counties
  • WalkabilityBetter than 74% of counties
  • Short commute21.4 minutes each way, better than 70% of counties
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 69% of counties

Where Murray County ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 4% of counties
  • Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
  • Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of counties
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than only 11% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Murray County

A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Murray County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,653, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$39,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$907
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $156,292 home
Median rent
$900
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$797
Property tax$58
Homeowners insurance$52

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 Murray County's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Murray County

Murray County's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
21%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6419%
65 and older21%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Murray County.


Who works in Murray County, and how

Work in Murray County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
4%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.3%
about the national average
Job growth
−4.2%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Retail trade16%
Health care & social14%
Manufacturing11%
Hospitality & food8%
Public administration7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 92%
  • Work from home 4%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in Murray County

Murray County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Murray County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
89
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 64.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 74% of counties
Parkland
60 acres
about 4.3 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 51% of counties

Is Murray County growing, and who is moving in?

Murray County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Oklahoma City, OK.

Population growth
-0%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
13,754
down from 13,765
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Oklahoma City, OK108 / yr
Garvin County, OK55 / yr
Pontotoc County, OK55 / yr
Mayes County, OK50 / yr
Detroit, MI45 / yr

Where people leaving Murray County go

Oklahoma City, OK253 / yr
Payne County, OK232 / yr
Carter County, OK92 / yr
Muskogee County, OK84 / yr
Garvin County, OK44 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Murray County, month by month

Murray County sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January55°41°30°
April75°62°51°
July95°83°72°
October78°64°53°

Flying in and out of Murray County

The nearest airport, Okc Will Rogers International, is about 69 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 111 miles away.

Nearest airport
OKC
Okc Will Rogers International, about 69 miles
Airport size
Small hub
68th-busiest in the US, 68 nonstop destinations
Average drive
99 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Murray County

Schools across Murray County average a C−, better than 25% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Murray County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Murray 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 Murray County against the other 3,143 counties.


Common questions about living in Murray County

Is Murray County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Murray County ranks 2,167th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, state finances, and walkability, 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 Murray County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $156,292. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $68,653 median income, cost of living beats 69% of counties.

Is Murray County safe?

Murray County is safer than 48% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $436 per resident a year.


Compare Murray County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Murray County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Murray 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.

Murray County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Murray County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Murray County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Murray County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Murray County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Murray County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.