Best PlacesOakley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oakley, 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.
Oakley ranks 758th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Oakley
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.
Oakley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oakley ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 179 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of cities
- Household income$136,834 median, better than 86% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 85% of cities
- BikingBetter than 83% of cities
Where Oakley ranks low
- Short commute41.1 minutes each way, better than only 1% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,942 a month, better than only 3% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Oakley
A household needs to earn about $181,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oakley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $136,834, 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 Oakley's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Oakley
Oakley 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 Oakley.
Who works in Oakley, and how
Work in Oakley centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Oakley
Oakley has more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Oakley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oakley, month by month
Oakley sees roughly 179 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Oakley
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 34 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oakley
Schools across Oakley average a C+, better than 40% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Knightsen ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Deer Valley HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oakley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oakley 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 Oakley against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Oakley suits
Families
Schools land around the 40th percentile and crime safety beats 57%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of cities and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Oakley
Is Oakley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oakley ranks 758th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, few empty homes, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oakley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $675,130. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $136,834 median income, cost of living beats 72% of cities.
Is Oakley safe?
Yes, Oakley is safer than 57% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $328 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oakley?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 41. That works out to about 179 pleasant days a year, more than 89% of cities.
Is Oakley good for families?
Schools beat 40% of cities, crime safety beats 57%, and childcare runs $1,942 a month.
Compare Oakley with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oakley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oakley 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.
Oakley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oakley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oakley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oakley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oakley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oakley 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.