Best PlacesTulsa, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Tulsa metro, 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.
Photo by Nils Huenerfuerst, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Tulsa ranks 273rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state finances and cell coverage. The weaker spots are the schools, state infrastructure, and civic engagement.
The best neighborhoods in the Tulsa 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 Tulsa
The towns and districts of the Tulsa 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.
Jenks, Glenpool & Okmulgee
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Bixby, Coweta & Wagoner
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Owasso, Claremore & Collinsville
Schools score higher, though biking is worse.
Sand Springs
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer households have young kids.
Broken Arrow
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Downtown Tulsa
Transit reaches more jobs, though it is noisier.
Sapulpa & Bristow
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Cleveland, Pawhuska & Hominy
Prices have run up less, though advertised internet is slower.
Skiatook & Sperry
Heat risk is higher.
Tulsa 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's strengths and weaknesses
Tulsa lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State finances, cell coverage, and what local pay buys carry most of that.
The one real hole is the schools, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and civic engagement 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 ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 74% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 66% of metro areas
- Short commute22.1 minutes each way, better than 64% of metro areas
Where Tulsa ranks low
- School gradeD+, better than only 2% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 25% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Tulsa
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tulsa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,432, 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's effective rate of 0.86%, 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
Tulsa runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tulsa.
Who works in Tulsa, and how
Work in Tulsa 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 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Tulsa
Tulsa has more parkland per resident than 72% of metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 81% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Tulsa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Tulsa growing, and who is moving in?
Tulsa has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Oklahoma City, OK.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Tulsa go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Tulsa, month by month
Tulsa sees roughly 84 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
The nearest airport, Tulsa International, is about 6 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
Schools across Tulsa average a D+, better than 2% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Bixby North EsA · 63% proficient
- Freedom EsA− · 57% proficient
- Beggs EsB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Verdigris Upper EsB− · 41% proficient
- Jenks West Intermediate EsB− · 40% proficient
- Owasso 6th Grade CtrB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Booker T. Washington HsB · 49% proficient
- Sequoyah HsB− · 45% proficient
- Bixby HsC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tulsa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tulsa 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 against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Tulsa suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of metro areas 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
Is Tulsa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tulsa ranks 273rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state finances, cell coverage, and what local pay buys, and lowest on the schools and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tulsa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $226,090. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $77,432 median income, cost of living beats 74% of metro areas.
Is Tulsa safe?
Tulsa is safer than 39% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $470 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Tulsa?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 28. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Tulsa?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Jenks, Glenpool & Okmulgee, Bixby, Coweta & Wagoner, and Owasso, Claremore & Collinsville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Tulsa good for families?
Schools beat 2% of metro areas, crime safety beats 39%, and childcare runs $946 a month.
Is Tulsa good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 53% of metro areas. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Tulsa with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tulsa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tulsa 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tulsa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tulsa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tulsa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tulsa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tulsa 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.