Best PlacesWoods County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Woods County, 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.
Woods County ranks 2,223rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Woods 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.
Woods County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Woods County ranks high
- Short commute14.7 minutes each way, better than 96% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 84% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of counties
Where Woods County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Woods County
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Woods County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,112, 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 Woods County's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Woods County
Woods 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 Woods County.
Who works in Woods County, and how
Work in Woods County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Woods County
Woods County has more parkland per resident than 88% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Woods County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Woods County growing, and who is moving in?
Woods County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Oklahoma City, OK.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Woods County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Woods County, month by month
Woods County sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 73° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 97° | 83° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Woods County
The nearest airport, Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Ntl, is about 93 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 279 miles away.
The best schools in and around Woods County
Schools across Woods County average a C−, better than 24% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cherokee EsB · 45% proficient
- Longfellow EsB− · 43% proficient
- Lincoln EsC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cherokee MsB− · 42% proficient
- Alva MsC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Cherokee HsC− · 27% proficient
- Alva HsD+ · 25% proficient
- Freedom HsD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Woods County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Woods 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 Woods County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Woods County
Is Woods County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Woods County ranks 2,223rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on short commutes, cell coverage, and state finances, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Woods County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,996. The overall cost of living runs about 28% below the national average. Set against a $56,112 median income, cost of living beats 46% of counties.
Is Woods County safe?
Woods County is safer than 15% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $629 per resident a year.
Compare Woods County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Woods County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Woods 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.
Woods County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Woods County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Woods County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Woods County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Woods County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Woods 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.