Best PlacesRoyal Oak, MI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Royal Oak, 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.
Royal Oak ranks 564th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Royal Oak
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.
Royal Oak's strengths and weaknesses
Where Royal Oak ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- BikingBetter than 96% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of cities
Where Royal Oak ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 11% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 33% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Royal Oak
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Royal Oak home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $105,274, 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 Royal Oak's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 Royal Oak
Royal Oak's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Royal Oak.
Who works in Royal Oak, and how
Work in Royal Oak centers on manufacturing and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Royal Oak
Royal Oak has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Royal Oak and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Royal Oak, month by month
Royal Oak sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 28° | 23° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Royal Oak
Detroit Metro Wayne County sits about 23 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 168 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Royal Oak
Schools across Royal Oak average a B−, better than 56% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Northwood Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Addams Elementary And EccB · 48% proficient
- Oak Ridge Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Royal Oak Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Clawson Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Ferndale Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Royal Oak High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ferndale High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Clawson High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Royal Oak school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Royal Oak 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 Royal Oak against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Royal Oak suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 27% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Royal Oak
Is Royal Oak a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Royal Oak ranks 564th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, biking, and heat safety, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Royal Oak expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $325,864. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $105,274 median income, cost of living beats 68% of cities.
Is Royal Oak safe?
Royal Oak is safer than 40% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $352 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Royal Oak?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 23. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of cities.
Is Royal Oak good for families?
Schools beat 56% of cities, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Compare Royal Oak with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Royal Oak. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Royal Oak 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.
Royal Oak detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Royal Oak: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Royal Oak: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Royal Oak: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Royal Oak: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Royal Oak 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.