Best PlacesOakton, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oakton, 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.
Oakton ranks 39,065th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oakton
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.
Oakton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oakton ranks high
- Cheap childcare$379 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 72% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 103 pleasant days a year, better than 70% of towns
Where Oakton ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oakton
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oakton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,436, 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 Oakton's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Oakton
Oakton 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 Oakton.
Who works in Oakton, and how
Work in Oakton centers on construction and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Oakton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oakton.
What the weather is like in Oakton, month by month
Oakton sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Oakton
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oakton
Schools across Oakton average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Liberal Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Jasper Co. Elem.C · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lamar MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Liberal MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberal HighB− · 40% proficient
- Lamar HighC− · 30% proficient
- Jasper Co. High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oakton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oakton 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 Oakton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oakton
Is Oakton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oakton ranks 39,065th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and state finances, and lowest on biking and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oakton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,652. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $72,436 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Oakton safe?
Oakton is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $614 per resident a year.
Compare Oakton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oakton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oakton 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.
Oakton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oakton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oakton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oakton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oakton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oakton 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.