Best PlacesOkemah, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Okemah, 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.
Okemah ranks 46,992nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Okemah
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.
Okemah's strengths and weaknesses
Where Okemah ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute18.9 minutes each way, better than 91% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
Where Okemah ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Household income$39,446 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Okemah
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Okemah home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $39,446, 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 Okemah's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Okemah
Okemah's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Okemah.
Who works in Okemah, and how
Work in Okemah centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Okemah
Okemah has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Okemah and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Okemah, month by month
Okemah sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 39° | 31° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Okemah
The nearest airport, Tulsa International, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Okemah
Schools across Okemah average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Spence Memorial EsD · 20% proficient
- Oakes EsD · 20% proficient
- Okemah Noble CtrD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Weleetka JhsD− · 17% proficient
- Okemah MsF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Weleetka HsD+ · 25% proficient
- Butner HsF · 10% proficient
- Mason HsF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Okemah school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Okemah 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 Okemah against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Okemah
Is Okemah a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Okemah ranks 46,992nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on health outcomes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Okemah expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $111,326. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $39,446 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Okemah safe?
Okemah is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $640 per resident a year.
Compare Okemah with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Okemah. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Okemah 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.
Okemah detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Okemah: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Okemah: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Okemah: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Okemah: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Okemah 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.