Best PlacesOak, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak, 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 ranks 27,804th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oak
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's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 113 pleasant days a year, better than 76% of towns
Where Oak ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oak
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,083, 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's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 5 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
Oak 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.
Who works in Oak, and how
Work in Oak centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Oak
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oak.
What the weather is like in Oak, month by month
Oak sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 68° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 69° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Oak
The nearest airport, Central Nebraska Regional, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oak
Schools across Oak average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pike Valley ElemA− · 60% proficient
- Bruning-davenport Elem/davenptB · 50% proficient
- Deshler Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bruning-davenport Middle SchB+ · 50% proficient
- Pike Valley Jr HighD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Deshler High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Pike Valley HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oak
Is Oak a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak ranks 27,804th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, a stable housing market, and state infrastructure, 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 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $93,692. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $64,083 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Oak safe?
Oak is safer than 49% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $297 per resident a year.
Compare Oak with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak 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.