Best PlacesOaklawn, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oaklawn, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oaklawn ranks 3,492nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oaklawn
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.
Oaklawn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oaklawn ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$136,974 median, better than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Short commute20.5 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
Where Oaklawn ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,525 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oaklawn
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oaklawn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $136,974, 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 Oaklawn's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Oaklawn
Oaklawn runs older 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 Oaklawn.
Who works in Oaklawn, and how
Work in Oaklawn centers on professional & technical and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Oaklawn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oaklawn.
What the weather is like in Oaklawn, month by month
Oaklawn sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50° | 42° | 35° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 70° | 55° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Oaklawn
The nearest airport, McNary Field, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 34 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oaklawn
Schools across Oaklawn average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Butte Creek Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Cecile Trost Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Rural Dell Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Molalla River Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Canby High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- John F Kennedy High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Molalla High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oaklawn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oaklawn 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 Oaklawn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oaklawn
Is Oaklawn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oaklawn ranks 3,492nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, high incomes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on childcare costs and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oaklawn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $775,800. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $136,974 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Oaklawn safe?
Yes, Oaklawn is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $288 per resident a year.
Compare Oaklawn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oaklawn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oaklawn 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.
Oaklawn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oaklawn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oaklawn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oaklawn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oaklawn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oaklawn 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.