Best PlacesOakdale, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oakdale, 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.
Oakdale ranks 46,930th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oakdale
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.
Oakdale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oakdale ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 78% of towns
Where Oakdale ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$45,549 median, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oakdale
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oakdale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,549, 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 Oakdale's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oakdale
Oakdale runs younger 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 Oakdale.
Who works in Oakdale, and how
Work in Oakdale centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Oakdale
Oakdale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Oakdale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oakdale, month by month
Oakdale sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Oakdale
The nearest airport, Alexandria International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 153 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oakdale
Schools across Oakdale average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Forest Hill Junior High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Oberlin Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- James Stephens Montessori SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oakdale Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Oberlin High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Oakdale High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Mamou High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oakdale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oakdale 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 Oakdale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oakdale
Is Oakdale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oakdale ranks 46,930th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and walkability, and lowest on state infrastructure and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oakdale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $108,513. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $45,549 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Oakdale safe?
Oakdale is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $697 per resident a year.
Compare Oakdale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oakdale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oakdale 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.
Oakdale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oakdale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oakdale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oakdale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oakdale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oakdale 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.