Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For a city of 122,230, Thousand Oaks does well: it grades B+, ranked 102nd of 841 in California. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 89% of the country and its schools outperform 86% of the state's. The trade-offs: the typical home is worth about $1.0 million, 9.4 years of the Oxnard metro’s $110K median household income, and FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 90% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Thousand Oaks’ median rent is $2,664 a month, where California’s towns sit at $1,895 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. On the outdoors, just 28 of California’s 1,064 towns do better. Thousand Oaks is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns.
Where Thousand Oaks beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
39.5% of the town is conserved land, across 97 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Thousand Oaks is from typical.
Its grades run from A for health (better than 89% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 2%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,243 in 1950, 126,966 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 2007 and 7 maps from 1900 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Thousand Oaks. Close and well known come first.
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaSoFi Stadium
Big draw31 mi LandmarkHollywood Walk of Fame10.0M visitors a year
Big draw36 mi MuseumLucas Museum of Narrative Art
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Big draw32 mi LandmarkHollywood Sign
Big draw31 mi MuseumLa Brea Tar PitsSoFi Stadium: Thank You (21 Millions+) views, CC BY 2.0 · Hollywood Walk of Fame: BenSherman, Public domain · Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: Kriddl, CC0 · Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: CanonStarGal, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hollywood Sign: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 · La Brea Tar Pits: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Thousand Oaks, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Thousand Oaks.
Thousand Oaks fares better on crime within California than nationally, keeps more of its land conserved than most of California and has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns.
Its 13,939 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 96% of California towns. Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #16 of 847 in California.
228 miles of trail in 97 parks and preserves. The trail density in Thousand Oaks is 4.1 miles per square mile. North Ranch Open Space, at 2,761 acres with 22.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. North Ranch Open Space | 22.4 mi | 2,761 |
| 2. Wildwood Park | 22.3 mi | 1,699 |
| 3. Conejo Canyons Open Space | 19.2 mi | 1,664 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.03M.
Its public schools are run by the Conejo Valley Unified school district. Three of its 46 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sycamore CanyonLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 937 | – |
| Newbury Park HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,047 | A |
| Meadows Arts and Technology ElementaryTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 397 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with California is no health insurance: 5.8% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 10.6% statewide. Against the 3,978 U.S. towns with household incomes like Thousand Oaks’s, it is healthier than 64%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
23% of adults have obesity in Thousand Oaks. Thousand Oaks beats the California average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 31% of adults feel lonely in Thousand Oaks.
| Thousand Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 29% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 36% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.6% | 11% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 36% |
| What stands out | Thousand Oaks | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.8% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.8% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Since 1978, 40 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Thousand Oaks.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Thousand Oaks home is worth about $1,028,000, up 1.8% in a year, 35% above the California typical home.
| Thousand Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 56% | 55% | 48% |
| Households that own their home | 71% | 64% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
January nights average 45°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 85.3°.
Thousand Oaks has warm winters and warm summers, with very little rain. Thousand Oaks’ January low is 45°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Thousand Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 45°F | 40°F | 22°F |
| July high | 85°F | 89°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in 4 of Thousand Oaks’s working residents works in town. 24% of Thousand Oaks workers work from home. Jobs based in Thousand Oaks grew to 60,830 in 2023, 4,912 more than in 2013.
| Thousand Oaks | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 26% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Work from home | 24% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $136,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 14.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 87% of California’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 156 reported in 2025, 1.3 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
4 within 15 miles of the center of Thousand Oaks
About 8 of every 100 Thousand Oaks residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
3 places in Thousand Oaks on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in California, United States
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately 15 miles (24 km) from the city of Los Angeles and 40 miles (64 km) from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees present in the area. The city forms the central populated core of the Conejo Valley. Thousand Oaks was incorporated in 1964 and has since expanded to the west and east. Two-thirds of the master-planned community surrounding Westlake and most of Newbury Park were annexed by the city during the late 1960s and 1970s. The Los Angeles County–Ventura County line forms the city's eastern border with the city of Westlake Village.…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Thousand Oaks.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thousand Oaks | #102 | B+ | D− | B | A | A |
| Santa Rosa Valley | #250 | C+ | D− | — | B+ | A |
| Lake Sherwood | — | — | D− | — | A | A |
| Simi Valley | #164 | B | D− | B | B+ | A− |
| Oak Park | #99 | B+ | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Camarillo | #197 | B− | D− | B | B+ | A− |
| Westlake Village | #138 | B | D− | C+ | A | A+ |
Lake Sherwood has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Santa Rosa Valley, Lake Sherwood and Oak Park report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Thousand Oaks with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Thousand Oaks grades B+ overall, better than 67% of U.S. towns and #102 of 841 in California. It grades A for health, B for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
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