Best PlacesPayne County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Payne County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Payne County ranks 1,562nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Payne County
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 Payne County
The parts of Payne County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Stillwater
More adults hold degrees, biking is better, and health outcomes score higher.
Perkins
More households have young kids and fewer homes sit empty.
Cushing
Prices have run up less, though heat risk is higher.
Payne County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Payne County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Payne County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of counties
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of counties
- BikingBetter than 84% of counties
Where Payne County ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 22% of counties
- Household income$59,063 median, better than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Payne County
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Payne County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,063, 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 Payne County's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Payne County
Payne County runs younger 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 Payne County.
Who works in Payne County, and how
Work in Payne County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Payne County
Payne County has more late-night spots per resident than 94% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Payne County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Payne County growing, and who is moving in?
Payne County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Tulsa, OK.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Payne County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Payne County, month by month
Payne County sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 37° | 27° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 95° | 83° | 72° |
| October | 77° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Payne County
The nearest airport, Stillwater Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 221 miles away.
The best schools in and around Payne County
Schools across Payne County average a C, better than 37% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Richmond EsA− · 58% proficient
- Westwood EsA− · 56% proficient
- Mulhall-orlando EsB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stillwater MsC · 32% proficient
- Cushing MsC− · 27% proficient
- Perkins-tryon MsD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Mulhall-orlando HsB+ · 58% proficient
- Stillwater HsC+ · 40% proficient
- Perkins-tryon HsC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Payne County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Payne County 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 Payne County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Payne County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Payne County
Is Payne County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Payne County ranks 1,562nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, cell coverage, and short commutes, and lowest on civic engagement and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Payne County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $227,560. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $59,063 median income, cost of living beats 30% of counties.
Is Payne County safe?
Payne County is safer than 45% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $473 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Payne County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 27. That works out to about 109 pleasant days a year, more than 67% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Payne County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Stillwater, Perkins, and Cushing. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Payne County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Payne County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Payne County 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.
Payne County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Payne County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Payne County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Payne County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Payne County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Payne County 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.