Best PlacesOptima, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Optima, 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.
Optima ranks 44,780th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Optima
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.
Optima's strengths and weaknesses
Where Optima ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 85% of towns
Where Optima ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Short commute37.8 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Optima
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Optima home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,751, 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 Optima's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Optima
Optima runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Optima.
Who works in Optima, and how
Work in Optima centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Optima
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Optima.
What the weather is like in Optima, month by month
Optima sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 35° | 22° |
| April | 75° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 96° | 80° | 67° |
| October | 77° | 58° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Optima
The nearest airport, Liberal Mid-America Regional, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 280 miles away.
The best schools in and around Optima
Schools across Optima average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hooker EsD+ · 21% proficient
- Optima Public SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Park EsC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Hooker HsD · 20% proficient
- Tyrone HsD− · 14% proficient
- Texhoma HsF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Optima school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Optima 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 Optima against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Optima
Is Optima a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Optima ranks 44,780th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, clean air, and state finances, and lowest on crime and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Optima expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,319. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $55,751 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Optima safe?
Optima is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,262 per resident a year.
Compare Optima with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Optima. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Optima 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.
Optima detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Optima: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Optima: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Optima: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Optima: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Optima 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.