Best PlacesUpper Laurel, Oakland, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Upper Laurel, Oakland, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Upper Laurel, Oakland ranks 2,726th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Upper Laurel, Oakland
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.
Upper Laurel, Oakland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Upper Laurel, Oakland ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 218 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 80% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than 76% of neighborhoods
Where Upper Laurel, Oakland ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,082 a month, better than only 5% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Short commute34.3 minutes each way, better than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Upper Laurel, Oakland
A household needs to earn about $210,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Upper Laurel, Oakland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,121, 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 Upper Laurel, Oakland's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 Upper Laurel, Oakland
Upper Laurel, Oakland runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Upper Laurel, Oakland.
Who works in Upper Laurel, Oakland, and how
Work in Upper Laurel, Oakland centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in Upper Laurel, Oakland
The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Upper Laurel, Oakland, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Upper Laurel, Oakland, month by month
Upper Laurel, Oakland sees roughly 218 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 74 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 68° | 57° | 49° |
| July | 74° | 63° | 56° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Upper Laurel, Oakland
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 5 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
Upper Laurel, Oakland 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 Upper Laurel, Oakland against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Upper Laurel, Oakland
Is Upper Laurel, Oakland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Upper Laurel, Oakland ranks 2,726th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on fast internet, the weather, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Upper Laurel, Oakland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $789,206. The overall cost of living runs about 31% above the national average. Set against a $104,121 median income, cost of living beats 52% of neighborhoods.
Is Upper Laurel, Oakland safe?
Upper Laurel, Oakland is safer than 39% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $550 per resident a year.
Compare Upper Laurel, Oakland with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Upper Laurel, Oakland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Upper Laurel, Oakland 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.
Upper Laurel, Oakland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Upper Laurel, Oakland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Upper Laurel, Oakland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Upper Laurel, Oakland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Upper Laurel, Oakland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Upper Laurel, Oakland 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.