Best PlacesOak Leaf, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Leaf, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oak Leaf ranks 4,339th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Leaf
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 Leaf's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Leaf ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$127,308 median, better than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 148 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
Where Oak Leaf ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Leaf
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Leaf home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $127,308, 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 Leaf's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 10 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 Leaf
Oak Leaf's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oak Leaf.
Who works in Oak Leaf, and how
Work in Oak Leaf centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in Oak Leaf
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oak Leaf.
What the weather is like in Oak Leaf, month by month
Oak Leaf sees roughly 148 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 96° | 84° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Oak Leaf
Dallas Love Field sits about 23 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 8.2 million passengers in 2025, with 91 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Oak Leaf
Schools across Oak Leaf average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shackelford ElB+ · 51% proficient
- Shields ElC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Howard J HB · 44% proficient
- Red Oak MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Waxahachie Global H SA · 72% proficient
- Red Oak H SB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Leaf school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Leaf 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 Leaf against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oak Leaf
Is Oak Leaf a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Leaf ranks 4,339th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Leaf expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $409,516. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $127,308 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Oak Leaf safe?
Yes, Oak Leaf is safer than 59% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $323 per resident a year.
Compare Oak Leaf with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Leaf. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Leaf 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 Leaf detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Leaf: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Leaf: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Leaf: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Leaf: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Leaf 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.