Best PlacesOak Center, MN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Center, 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 Center ranks 10,476th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Center
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 Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Center ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
Where Oak Center ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Center
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,205, 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 Center's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Center
Oak Center runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oak Center.
Who works in Oak Center, and how
Work in Oak Center centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Oak Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oak Center.
What the weather is like in Oak Center, month by month
Oak Center sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Oak Center
The nearest airport, Rochester International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oak Center
Schools across Oak Center average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Goodhue ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Bluff View ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Zumbrota-mazeppa Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Zumbrota-mazeppa Senior HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Lincoln SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
- Goodhue SecondaryC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Center 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 Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oak Center
Is Oak Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Center ranks 10,476th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, state infrastructure, and low crime, and lowest on internet speeds and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $338,672. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $90,205 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Oak Center safe?
Yes, Oak Center is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $186 per resident a year.
Compare Oak Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Center 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 Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Center 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.