Best PlacesOxnard, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Oxnard metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Mountain Mike Johans…, CC BY 3.0, via commons
Oxnard ranks 85th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and big-city access. The cost shows up in childcare costs, taxes, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in the Oxnard metro
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.
The best areas in Oxnard
The towns and districts of the Oxnard metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Simi Valley
More adults hold degrees, more residents vote, and local pay stretches further.
Thousand Oaks, Oak Park & Westlake Village
Health care is easier to reach, though fewer households have young kids.
Camarillo
Schools score higher.
Moorpark & Fillmore
Incomes run higher, though disaster risk is higher.
Ventura
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Newbury Park
Homes cost less and heat risk is lower.
Ojai, Oak View & Mira Monte
Crime runs higher and more homes sit empty.
Downtown Oxnard
Streets are more walkable.
Santa Paula
Scores close to Downtown Oxnard, except that prices have run up less here.
Oxnard shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Oxnard's strengths and weaknesses
Oxnard ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Big-city access and high incomes follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and disaster risk also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Oxnard ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 265 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Household income$118,457 median, better than 97% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of metro areas
Where Oxnard ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,601 a month, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 17% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Oxnard
A household needs to earn about $213,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oxnard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $118,457, 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 Oxnard's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Oxnard
Oxnard's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Oxnard.
Who works in Oxnard, and how
Work in Oxnard 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 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Oxnard
Oxnard has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oxnard and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Oxnard growing, and who is moving in?
Oxnard has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Los Angeles, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Oxnard go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Oxnard, month by month
Oxnard sees roughly 265 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 73 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 46. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 56° | 46° |
| April | 68° | 58° | 50° |
| July | 73° | 66° | 60° |
| October | 76° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Oxnard
The nearest airport, Santa Barbara Municipal, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oxnard
Schools across Oxnard average a C+, better than 50% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Round Meadow ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Red Oak ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Santa Rosa Technology MagnetA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Medea Creek MiddleA+ · 74% proficient
- Alice C. Stelle MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Las Colinas MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Foothill Technology HighA · 70% proficient
- Newbury Park HighA · 68% proficient
- Westlake HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oxnard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oxnard 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 Oxnard against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Oxnard suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Oxnard
Is Oxnard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oxnard ranks 85th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oxnard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $827,070. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $118,457 median income, cost of living beats 48% of metro areas.
Is Oxnard safe?
Oxnard is safer than 44% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oxnard?
July highs average about 73 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 46. That works out to about 265 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Oxnard?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Oak Park & Westlake Village, and Camarillo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Oxnard good for families?
Schools beat 50% of metro areas, crime safety beats 44%, and childcare runs $1,601 a month.
Is Oxnard good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 48% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 81% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Oxnard with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oxnard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oxnard 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.
Oxnard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oxnard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oxnard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oxnard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oxnard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oxnard 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.