Best PlacesOak City, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak City, 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.
Oak City ranks 45,751st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oak City
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 City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak City ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 79% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 76% of towns
Where Oak City ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oak City
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,988, 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 City's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oak City
Oak City 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 City.
Who works in Oak City, and how
Work in Oak City centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Oak City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oak City.
What the weather is like in Oak City, month by month
Oak City sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Oak City
The nearest airport, Pitt-Greenville, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oak City
Schools across Oak City average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Bertie ElementaryD · 19% proficient
- South Creek ElementaryD · 18% proficient
- Scotland Neck Elementary Leadership AcadF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverside MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Bertie MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Bertie Early College HighA− · 67% proficient
- South Creek HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak City 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 City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oak City
Is Oak City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak City ranks 45,751st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and walkability, and lowest on summer heat and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $110,812. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $56,988 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Oak City safe?
Oak City is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $634 per resident a year.
Compare Oak City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak City 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 City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak City 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.