Best PlacesWoodward County, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Woodward 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.
Woodward County ranks 1,824th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Woodward 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.
Woodward County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Woodward County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 84% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 133 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of counties
Where Woodward County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Woodward County
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Woodward County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,347, 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 Woodward 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 Woodward County
Woodward County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Woodward County.
Who works in Woodward County, and how
Work in Woodward County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Woodward County
Woodward County has more parkland per resident than 99% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Woodward County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Woodward County growing, and who is moving in?
Woodward County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Ellis County, OK.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Woodward County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Woodward County, month by month
Woodward County sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 35° | 25° |
| April | 73° | 57° | 45° |
| July | 93° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Woodward County
The nearest airport, Liberal Mid-America Regional, is about 97 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 278 miles away.
The best schools in and around Woodward County
Schools across Woodward County average a D+, better than 15% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Fort Supply EsB · 47% proficient
- Cedar Heights EsB− · 43% proficient
- Waynoka EsC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodward Ms North CampusB− · 39% proficient
- Woodward Ms South CampusD+ · 27% proficient
- Seiling Jr-sr Hs (jr)D− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Arnett HsB− · 42% proficient
- Vici HsC · 34% proficient
- Freedom HsD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Woodward County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Woodward 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 Woodward County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Woodward County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties and 3% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Woodward County
Is Woodward County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Woodward County ranks 1,824th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, a stable housing market, and state finances, and lowest on air quality and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Woodward County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,760. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $67,347 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Woodward County safe?
Woodward County is safer than 26% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $528 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Woodward County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 25. That works out to about 133 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of counties.
Is Woodward County good for families?
Schools beat 15% of counties, crime safety beats 26%, and childcare runs $915 a month.
Compare Woodward County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Woodward County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Woodward 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.
Woodward County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Woodward County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Woodward County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Woodward County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Woodward County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Woodward 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.