Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For a city of 130,943, Norman does unevenly: it grades C+, ranked 48th of 131 in Oklahoma. It is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 88% of U.S. towns. The trade-off: it reports more crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns, including 320 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Its National Register listings include Moore-Lindsay House and Santa Fe Depot. On health, just 12 of Oklahoma’s 229 towns do better. 13% of the land in Norman is conserved, above both the Oklahoma town median (6.9%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%).
Where Norman beats most towns.
Bizzell Library, University of Oklahoma is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier. Its 24 National Register listings are more than in 95% of Oklahoma towns with a listing.
Census counts: 787 in 1890, 128,026 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 6 maps from 1893 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oklahoma), ordered by how far Norman is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Norman. Close and well known come first.
in town Stadium & arenaGaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
19 mi MuseumOklahoma City National Memorial419K visitors a year
22 mi MuseumNational Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum24 mi Theme parkFrontier City
10 mi MuseumMuseum of Osteology
in town MuseumSam Noble MuseumGaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium: Toniklemm, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Oklahoma City National Memorial: User:Dual Freq, CC BY 2.5 · National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum: Billy Hathorn, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Museum of Osteology: SkeletonsRCool, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sam Noble Museum: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Norman, 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 Norman.
Norman fares better on crime within Oklahoma than nationally and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
At 32 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 62% of Oklahoma’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 3,373 to 2,691 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
At 18 per 1,000 residents, Norman’s property crime rate is above both Oklahoma’s towns (14) and U.S. towns (9.9). Norman reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 75% report less.
| Norman | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18 per 1,000 residents | 14 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Norman school district. Three of its 37 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whittier MSLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,108 | B+ |
| Norman North HSLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,400 | A+ |
| McKinley EsTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 341 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OK on state tests and graduation
40 miles of trail in 69 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Sutton Urban Wilderness Park, 219 acres with 2.1 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ruby Grant Park | 3.4 mi | 136 |
| 2. Sutton Urban Wilderness Park | 2.1 mi | 219 |
| 3. John H. Saxon, Junior Memorial Park | 1.8 mi | 69 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Norman has mild winters and hot summers. Norman’s July high is 93°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median property tax bill is $2,484, against $1,599 across Oklahoma, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Norman home is worth about $260,000, up 0.6% in a year, 18% above the Oklahoma typical home. 53% of households own their home in Norman.
| Norman | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 62% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 51% | 44% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,090 a month | $870 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
About one in 3 of Norman’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Norman has added 4,727 jobs, to 45,737 in 2023. 17% of Norman residents live below the poverty line.
| Norman | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 31% | 22% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 18% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 12% | 6.6% | 11% |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 10,299 U.S. towns with household incomes like Norman’s, it is healthier than 81%, so its B isn’t only a matter of income. Within Oklahoma it is healthier than 93% of the 131 graded towns: much of Oklahoma scores lower on these measures.
Norman beats the Oklahoma average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. Among 131 Oklahoma towns, just 5 have a lower share of adults who have high blood pressure than Norman.
| Norman | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 16% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 40% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.8% | 14% | 12% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 26% | 23% |
| What stands out | Norman | OK |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.7% | 16.4% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.4% | 7.3% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 71.9% | 76.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
127 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 17 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 127 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Norman.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
3 within 15 miles of the center of Norman
College town 19 of every 100 Norman residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Oklahoma.
24 places in Norman on the National Register of Historic Places.
54 notable people were born in Norman.
City in Oklahoma, US
Norman () is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 census. It is the most populous city in and the county seat of Cleveland County and the second-most populous city in the Oklahoma City Metro Area after the state capital, Oklahoma City, 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Norman. The city was settled during the Land Run of 1889, which opened the former Unassigned Lands of Indian Territory to American pioneer settlement. It was named in honor of Abner Norman, the area's initial land surveyor, and was formally incorporated on May 13, 1891. Norman has prominent higher education and related research industries, as it is home to the…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Norman.
| Town | OK rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norman | #48 | C+ | C | C | B | B |
| Moore | #29 | B− | C+ | C+ | A− | B− |
| Oklahoma City | #100 | D | C+ | D | — | C+ |
| Noble | #27 | B− | B+ | B− | B | C |
| Newcastle | #10 | B+ | C+ | B+ | A− | B |
| Slaughterville | #81 | C− | A− | — | B | D |
Slaughterville reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Norman with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Norman grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #48 of 131 in Oklahoma. It grades B for health, C for safety and B for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C.
That is 3.6 years of the area's median household income ($72,094 across the Oklahoma City, OK metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
54 notable people were born here, including James Garner and Karl Guthe Jansky.
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