Best PlacesOak Creek, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Creek, 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 Creek ranks 547th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Creek
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 Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Creek ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 87% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of cities
Where Oak Creek ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 10% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 31% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 34% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 38% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Creek
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,476, 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 Creek's effective rate of 1.68%, 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 Creek
Oak Creek's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oak Creek.
Who works in Oak Creek, and how
Work in Oak Creek centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Oak Creek
Oak Creek has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 98% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oak Creek and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oak Creek, month by month
Oak Creek sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Oak Creek
General Mitchell International sits about 4 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Oak Creek
Schools across Oak Creek average a B−, better than 49% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Meadowview ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Carollton ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Southwood Glen ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oak Creek East MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Oak Creek West MiddleB · 44% proficient
- South Milwaukee MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Reagan College Preparatory HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Franklin HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Oak Creek HighB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Creek 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 Creek against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Oak Creek suits
Families
Schools land around the 49th percentile and crime safety beats 72%.
Common questions about living in Oak Creek
Is Oak Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Creek ranks 547th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and low disaster risk, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $331,008. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $102,476 median income, cost of living beats 67% of cities.
Is Oak Creek safe?
Yes, Oak Creek is safer than 72% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $254 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oak Creek?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 18. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 45% of cities.
Is Oak Creek good for families?
Schools beat 49% of cities, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Compare Oak Creek with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Creek 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 Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Creek 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.