Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Strong in places, weak in others. Nichols Hills’s overall grade is C+, better than 42% of U.S. towns. That places it 38th of 131 in Oklahoma. The weak point is cost of living (D): the typical home is worth about $984K, 13.6 years of the Oklahoma City metro’s $72K median household income. It also trails on schools: its schools rank behind 91% of the state's. Its strongest subject is incomes: the median household earns $208K. Health is another plus: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 92% of the country. Nichols Hills's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 88% of U.S. towns.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · schools, state test and graduation results.
Where Nichols Hills beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Christ the King Catholic School | PK–8 | 533 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oklahoma), ordered by how far Nichols Hills is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 8%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 942 in 1940, 3,870 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1938 and 5 maps from 1951 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Nichols Hills. Close and well known come first.
5 mi MuseumOklahoma City National Memorial419K visitors a year
4 mi MuseumNational Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum6 mi Theme parkFrontier City
24 mi Stadium & arenaGaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium4 mi Zoo & aquariumOklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden
14 mi MuseumMuseum of OsteologyOklahoma City National Memorial: User:Dual Freq, CC BY 2.5 · National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum: Billy Hathorn, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium: Toniklemm, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Museum of Osteology: SkeletonsRCool, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Nichols Hills, and how to reach them.
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 Nichols Hills.
Nichols Hills is the healthiest town in Oklahoma, fares better on crime within Oklahoma than nationally and has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns.
At 13.6 years of the Oklahoma City metro’s $72K median household income, the typical home (about $984K) costs more against local pay than in any other Oklahoma town; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $9,314, against $1,599 across Oklahoma, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Among 131 Oklahoma towns, just one has a higher share of homes lived in by their owners than Nichols Hills. The typical home value locally is about $984,000, up 4.1% in a year, 4 times the Oklahoma typical home. A home in Nichols Hills typically sold within 65 days of listing.
| Nichols Hills | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,130 a month | $870 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 92% | 62% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christ the King Catholic School PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 533 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OK on state tests and graduation
Trails total 1.0 miles in 4 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Woods Park, at 30 acres. Nichols Hills’ concentration of trails stands at 0.5 miles per square mile, above the Oklahoma town median (0.2) and near the median of U.S. towns (0.4).
| Nichols Hills | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 3.2% | 7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kite Park | 0.3 mi | 3 |
| 2. Woods Park | 0.2 mi | 30 |
| 3. Davis Park | 0.2 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
It is the healthiest of the 131 Oklahoma towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Oklahoma is food insecurity: 6.5% of its 3,092 adults worry about having enough food, against 18.5% statewide.
Among adults 18 to 64 in Nichols Hills, 4.9% have no health insurance. No town among the 131 in Oklahoma we compare has a lower share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Nichols Hills. Against the Oklahoma average, Nichols Hills comes out ahead on 24 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 3. Only 4 of the 131 Oklahoma towns we compare have a lower share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Nichols Hills.
| Nichols Hills | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 19% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 38% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 34% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.2% | 18% | 14% |
| What stands out | Nichols Hills | OK |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.5% | 18.5% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 5.8% | 14.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.3% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
July afternoons average 94°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 27.6°.
About 7 inches of snow falls in a winter. The July high for Nichols Hills comes to 94°F.
| Nichols Hills | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 93°F | 85°F |
| January low | 28°F | 28°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 13 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 89% of Oklahoma’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 53 to 33 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Only 8 of the 124 Oklahoma towns we compare have a lower rate of reported violence than Nichols Hills. Nichols Hills’ property offense rate is 8.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Nichols Hills | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 2.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.1 per 1,000 residents | 14.1 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The average commute for its 1,692 working residents takes 13.5 minutes, against 22.4 across Oklahoma.
For workers in Nichols Hills, the share who work remotely from home is 13%. Most people who work leave Nichols Hills to do it: just 5% work in town. Only one of the 131 Oklahoma towns we compare has a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Nichols Hills. The average commute locally is 14 minutes.
| Nichols Hills | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $208,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.8% | 18% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.8% | 22% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Federal aid has come to Nichols Hills households in 10 declared disasters; the latest was in 2021. FEMA expects more storm and flood damage locally than in 54% of U.S. communities. The national flood insurance program has paid 13 claims here since 1978.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
10 within 15 miles of the center of Nichols Hills
About 2 of every 100 Nichols Hills residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Oklahoma.
City in Oklahoma, United States
Nichols Hills is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 3,870 as of the 2020 census, a 4.3% increase from 2010.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Nichols Hills.
| Town | OK rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nichols Hills | #38 | C+ | D | B+ | D | A |
| The Village | #63 | C | C+ | C | D | A− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Nichols Hills grades C+ overall, better than 42% of U.S. towns and #38 of 131 in Oklahoma. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and D for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $984,000, 346% above the Oklahoma typical home and up 4.1% in a year. 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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