Best PlacesOak Ridge, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak Ridge, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oak Ridge ranks 1,944th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oak Ridge
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.
The best areas in Oak Ridge
The parts of Oak Ridge, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Millenia & Cannongate-Orlando
Winter Run
Americana
Camellia Gardens
Scores across Oak Ridge run from about the 6th to the 41st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Oak Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak Ridge ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of cities
Where Oak Ridge ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- Household income$53,617 median, better than only 3% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Oak Ridge
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $53,617, 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 Ridge's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 6 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 Ridge
Oak Ridge runs younger than the country, 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 Ridge.
Who works in Oak Ridge, and how
Work in Oak Ridge centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Oak Ridge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oak Ridge.
What the weather is like in Oak Ridge, month by month
Oak Ridge sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 74, with lows near 50. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| April | 86° | 74° | 64° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 87° | 77° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Oak Ridge
Orlando International sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 28.1 million passengers in 2025, with 223 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Oak Ridge
Schools across Oak Ridge average a C, better than 27% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Shingle Creek ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Palmetto ElementaryC · 31% proficient
- Millennia ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westridge MiddleC · 31% proficient
- Memorial MiddleD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Dr. Phillips HighB− · 43% proficient
- Freedom HighB− · 40% proficient
- Oak Ridge HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak Ridge 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 Ridge against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Oak Ridge suits
Common questions about living in Oak Ridge
Is Oak Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak Ridge ranks 1,944th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, state infrastructure, and transit, and lowest on thin health care access and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $286,233. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $53,617 median income, cost of living beats 5% of cities.
Is Oak Ridge safe?
Oak Ridge is safer than 16% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $297 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oak Ridge?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 74 with lows near 50. That works out to about 134 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Oak Ridge?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Millenia & Cannongate-Orlando, Winter Run, and Americana. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Oak Ridge with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak Ridge 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 Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak Ridge 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.