Best PlacesOak Flat, WV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Flat, 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 Flat ranks 44,650th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Flat
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 Flat's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Flat ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute21.6 minutes each way, better than 82% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 68% of towns
Where Oak Flat ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$31,807 median, better than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Flat
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Flat home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $31,807, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Flat's effective rate of 0.29%, 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 9 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 Flat
Oak Flat 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 Flat.
Who works in Oak Flat, and how
Work in Oak Flat centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Oak Flat
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oak Flat.
What the weather is like in Oak Flat, month by month
Oak Flat sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Oak Flat
The nearest airport, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oak Flat
Schools across Oak Flat average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brandywine Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- Franklin Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Pendleton County Middle/high SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Flat school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Flat 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 Flat against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oak Flat
Is Oak Flat a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Flat ranks 44,650th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on cell coverage and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Flat expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $184,896. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $31,807 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Oak Flat safe?
Oak Flat is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $334 per resident a year.
Compare Oak Flat with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Flat. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Flat 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 Flat detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Flat: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Flat: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Flat: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Flat: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Flat 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.