Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,146, settled in 1880.
Oracle gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $516K for a typical one, or 5.8 years of the Phoenix metro’s $88K median household income. It grades C overall, 89th among Arizona's 139 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 89% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top, and the median household income is $64K, and 13% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, it has 29 miles of trail and 49% conserved land. Oracle’s average trip to work is 40 minutes, above both the Arizona town median (24 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Oracle has 6 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Acadia Ranch and All Saint's Church. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 80% of U.S. towns.
Where Oracle beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
3,686 counted in 2010 and 3,051 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Arizona), ordered by how far Oracle is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,563 in 2000, 3,051 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2006 and 3 maps from 1959 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Oracle is unincorporated, so Pinal County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Oracle.
Oracle trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, keeps more of its land conserved than most of Arizona and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
Its 4,957 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 83% of Arizona towns.
The trail density in Oracle is 1.8 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is Oracle State Park, 127 acres with 2.2 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Oracle State Park | 2.2 mi | 127 |
| 2. Oracle Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Oracle Elementary District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Vista SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 413 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AZ on state tests
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Oracle has 252 jobs for its 921 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 39.9 minutes, against 25.4 across Arizona.
Most working residents leave Oracle for work: only 5% work in town. Jobs based in Oracle fell to 252 in 2023, 33 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Tucson (14%), Phoenix (13%) and Oro Valley (7%).
| Oracle | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 4.8% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Homes are within reach (about $516K for the typical one, A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 40 miles.
86% of Oracle households own their home. The typical Oracle home is worth about $516,000, up 1.2% in a year, 24% above the Arizona typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons average 91.2°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 76% of Arizona places with climate records; January nights average 35.7°.
Oracle has mild winters and warm summers, with very little rain. Oracle’s July high is 91°F. About 11 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Oracle | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 91°F | 100°F | 85°F |
| January low | 36°F | 37°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,691 U.S. towns with household incomes like Oracle’s, it is healthier than 51%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Oracle beats the Arizona average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12. 17% of adults have diabetes in Oracle.
| Oracle | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 36% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 32% | 35% |
| What stands out | Oracle | AZ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11% | 14.7% |
| Fewer binge drinkers | 12.1% | 15.3% |
| More adults with diabetes | 16.8% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
None within 15 miles of Oracle; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Oracle residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Arizona.
Where Oracle’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
6 places in Oracle on the National Register of Historic Places.
CDP in Pinal County, Arizona
Oracle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 3,686 at the 2010 Census, falling to 3,051 at the 2020 Census. Oracle State Park is adjacent. The Arizona Trail passes through the Park and community. Oracle is the gateway to the road up the north face of Mount Lemmon, which starts off of American Avenue and currently offers a secondary route to the top. Prior to the construction of the Catalina Highway on the opposite side of the Santa Catalina range, the Oracle Control Road was the only road access to the mountain community of Summerhaven. The term "control road" derives from the fact that the direction of traffic was restricted to one-w…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Oracle.
Mammoth has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Oracle and Mammoth report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Oracle with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Oracle grades C overall, better than 26% of U.S. towns and #89 of 139 in Arizona. It grades C+ for health and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
