Best PlacesOakland County, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Oakland County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oakland County ranks 184th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $114,269, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are car insurance costs, a weak job market, and property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Oakland County
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 Oakland County
The parts of Oakland County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Rochester Hills & Rochester
Incomes run higher, more adults hold degrees, and crime runs lower.
Troy
Biking is better and schools score higher.
Novi, Farmington Hills & South Lyon
Local pay stretches further and more households have young kids.
Bloomfield Hills & Birmingham
Homes cost more.
West Bloomfield, Commerce Township & Walled Lake
It is quieter, though streets are more car-dependent.
Waterford, Clarkston & White Lake
Tree cover is thicker, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Royal Oak, Oak Park & Madison Heights
Prices have run up less.
Pontiac, Lake Orion & Oxford
Health care is harder to reach and health outcomes score lower.
Southfield
More homes sit empty.
Oakland County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Oakland County's strengths and weaknesses
Oakland County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. An educated workforce is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Biking and what local pay buys follow.
The one real hole is car insurance costs, near the bottom of the country. A weak job market and property taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Oakland County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of counties
- BikingBetter than 97% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of counties
- Household income$114,269 median, better than 96% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of counties
Where Oakland County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Oakland County
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oakland County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $114,269, 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 Oakland County's effective rate of 1.26%, 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 Oakland County
Oakland County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oakland County.
Who works in Oakland County, and how
Work in Oakland County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Oakland County
Oakland County has more parkland per resident than 75% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 68% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oakland County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Oakland County growing, and who is moving in?
Oakland County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Detroit, MI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Oakland County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Oakland County, month by month
Oakland County sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Oakland County
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 26 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Oakland County
Schools across Oakland County average a B−, better than 63% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Amerman Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Novi Woods Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Conant Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avondale Gifted And Talented EducationA+ · 95% proficient
- Boulan Park Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Baker Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- International AcademyA+ · 82% proficient
- Wylie E Groves High SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Northville High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oakland County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oakland County 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 Oakland County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Oakland County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 55% of counties and health care access beats 95%.
Common questions about living in Oakland County
Is Oakland County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oakland County ranks 184th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, biking, and what local pay buys, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oakland County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $366,265. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $114,269 median income, cost of living beats 96% of counties.
Is Oakland County safe?
Yes, Oakland County is safer than 65% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $349 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oakland County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 23. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 55% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Oakland County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rochester Hills & Rochester, Troy, and Novi, Farmington Hills & South Lyon. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Oakland County good for families?
Schools beat 63% of counties, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Is Oakland County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 79% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Oakland County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oakland County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oakland County 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.
Oakland County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oakland County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oakland County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oakland County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oakland County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oakland County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.