Best PlacesOaks, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oaks, 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.
Oaks ranks 48,420th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oaks
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.
Oaks' strengths and weaknesses
Where Oaks ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap childcare$636 a month, better than 75% of towns
Where Oaks ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oaks
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oaks home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,876, 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 Oaks' effective rate of 0.37%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Oaks
Oaks runs older 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 Oaks.
Who works in Oaks, and how
Work in Oaks centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Oaks
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oaks.
What the weather is like in Oaks, month by month
Oaks sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Oaks
The nearest airport, South Arkansas Regional at Goodwin Field, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 218 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oaks
Schools across Oaks average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Haynesville Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Homer Elementary SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top middle schools
- Homer Junior High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Haynesville Jr./sr. High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Homer High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oaks school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oaks 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 Oaks against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oaks
Is Oaks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oaks ranks 48,420th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, 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 Oaks expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $91,436. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $45,876 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Oaks safe?
Oaks is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $787 per resident a year.
Compare Oaks with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oaks. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oaks 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.
Oaks detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oaks: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oaks: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oaks: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oaks: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oaks 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.