Best PlacesOak Bowery, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Bowery, 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.
Oak Bowery ranks 18,261st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Bowery
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.
Oak Bowery's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Bowery ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
Where Oak Bowery ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Bowery
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Bowery home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,262, 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 Oak Bowery's effective rate of 0.18%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oak Bowery
Oak Bowery runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oak Bowery.
Who works in Oak Bowery, and how
Work in Oak Bowery centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Oak Bowery
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oak Bowery.
What the weather is like in Oak Bowery, month by month
Oak Bowery sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Oak Bowery
The nearest airport, Columbus, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oak Bowery
Schools across Oak Bowery average a D, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pick Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Beulah Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Lafayette Eastside Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Drake Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- John P Powell Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Auburn High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Loachapoka High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Beulah High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Bowery school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Bowery 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 Oak Bowery against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oak Bowery
Is Oak Bowery a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Bowery ranks 18,261st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a strong job market, and state infrastructure, and lowest on biking and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Bowery expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $278,509. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $91,262 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Oak Bowery safe?
Oak Bowery is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $337 per resident a year.
Compare Oak Bowery with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Bowery. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Bowery 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.
Oak Bowery detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Bowery: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Bowery: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Bowery: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Bowery: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Bowery 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.