Best PlacesOak View, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oak View, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oak View ranks 16,757th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oak View
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 View's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oak View ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 253 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$112,565 median, better than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
Where Oak View ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,601 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oak View
A household needs to earn about $214,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oak View home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $112,565, 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 View's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 View
Oak View runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oak View.
Who works in Oak View, and how
Work in Oak View centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Oak View
The coast is about 10 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Oak View, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oak View, month by month
Oak View sees roughly 253 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 73 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 46. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 56° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 50° |
| July | 73° | 66° | 60° |
| October | 76° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Oak View
The nearest airport, Santa Barbara Municipal, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oak View
Schools across Oak View average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pierpont ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Sunset ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Mira Monte ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Balboa MiddleC · 34% proficient
- De Anza Academy Of Technology And The ArtsD+ · 26% proficient
- Matilija MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Buena HighB · 47% proficient
- Ventura HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oak View school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oak View 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 View against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oak View
Is Oak View a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oak View ranks 16,757th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oak View expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $829,768. The overall cost of living runs about 51% above the national average. Set against a $112,565 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Oak View safe?
Oak View is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $376 per resident a year.
Compare Oak View with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oak View. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oak View 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 View detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oak View: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oak View: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oak View: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oak View: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oak View 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.