Best PlacesTulsa County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Tulsa County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Tulsa County ranks 1,223rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cell coverage and biking. The weaker spots are civic engagement, noise, and the schools.
The best neighborhoods in Tulsa 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 Tulsa County
The parts of Tulsa 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.
Tulsa
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Broken Arrow
Fewer homes sit empty and crime runs lower.
Jenks & Glenpool
More households have young kids and heat risk is lower.
Owasso & Collinsville
Schools score higher, though biking is worse.
Sand Springs
Tree cover is thicker, though it is noisier.
Skiatook
Health outcomes score lower and health care is harder to reach.
Tulsa County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Tulsa County's strengths and weaknesses
Tulsa County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Biking and transit follow.
The one real hole is civic engagement, near the bottom of the country. Noise and the schools also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Tulsa County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 93% of counties
- TransitBetter than 93% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of counties
Where Tulsa County ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 7% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 7% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Tulsa County
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tulsa County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,952, 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 Tulsa County's effective rate of 0.95%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tulsa County
Tulsa County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tulsa County.
Who works in Tulsa County, and how
Work in Tulsa County 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 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Tulsa County
Tulsa County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of counties and more parkland per resident than 82% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Tulsa County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Tulsa County growing, and who is moving in?
Tulsa County has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Tulsa, OK metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Tulsa County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Tulsa County, month by month
Tulsa County sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 38° | 28° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 95° | 83° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Tulsa County
The nearest airport, Tulsa International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 230 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tulsa County
Schools across Tulsa County average a D+, better than 7% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bixby North EsA · 63% proficient
- Southeast EsB+ · 54% proficient
- Pamela Hodson EsB+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jenks West Intermediate EsB− · 40% proficient
- Owasso 6th Grade CtrB− · 39% proficient
- North Intermediate SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Booker T. Washington HsB · 49% proficient
- Bixby HsC+ · 40% proficient
- Jenks HsC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tulsa County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tulsa 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 Tulsa County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Tulsa County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Tulsa County
Is Tulsa County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tulsa County ranks 1,223rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, biking, and transit, and lowest on civic engagement and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tulsa County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,164. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $78,952 median income, cost of living beats 86% of counties.
Is Tulsa County safe?
Tulsa County is safer than 38% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $514 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Tulsa County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 28. That works out to about 86 pleasant days a year, more than 47% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Tulsa County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Tulsa, Broken Arrow, and Jenks & Glenpool. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Tulsa County good for families?
Schools beat 7% of counties, crime safety beats 38%, and childcare runs $949 a month.
Is Tulsa County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 83% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Tulsa County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tulsa County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tulsa 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.
Tulsa County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tulsa County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tulsa County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tulsa County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tulsa County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tulsa 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.