Oklahoma City, the state capital · Photo: Urbanative · CC BY-SA 3.0How Oklahoma stacks up
Only one state scores lower on the Nation’s Report Card than Oklahoma: 23% of its 4th and 8th graders score Proficient or better. On balance it grades D, which places it 44th. Its strengths are low costs (a typical property-tax bill of $1,599) and short commutes (22 minutes on average); its weak spots, low home ownership and health that trails most states.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
41st of 51C−20/100 More reported crime than in most states. Oklahoma reports 412 violent crimes per 100,000 people, against 329 nationally. Top-quarter towns are rare here; Weatherford comes closest at #406.
Add property crime, weighted as our town grades weigh it, and it ranks 11th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally.
Where most people live, crime runs higher
At the safe end sit Blanchard (#504), Newcastle (#748) and Bixby (#754) in the national ranking of towns of 10,000+. The quarter reporting the most crime per resident takes in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Lawton. Of residents of its 10,000+ towns, 3% live in the safest quarter nationally and 63% in the quarter reporting the most crime.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Oklahoma | 3% | 63% |
Very little left out
That covers 100% of the people in Oklahoma’s towns of 10,000+. Next door, coverage runs from 88% in Kansas to 99% in Arkansas.
Schools
50th of 51D−3/100 Among the weakest school results in the country. Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Yukon, #1,576 nationally. Compared with 31% nationally, 23% of its 4th and 8th graders test Proficient. It trails all of its neighbors on schools.
On-time graduation, 81.2% (6th lowest), weighs equally with test results in the grade.
It spends $12,210 per pupil, 3rd lowest (context only; spending isn’t graded).
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
10th of 51A−82/100 Affordable with few exceptions. Property-tax bills run $1,599 a year, the 9th lowest of the 50 states and D.C. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Chickasha ranks highest, at #67.
Against income, home values rank 7th lowest: 3.1 times the median household’s.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
44th of 51D14/100 Health trails most states. 21% of adults describe their health as fair or poor, against 19% nationally. 44% of residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Tulsa and Lawton.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
45th of 51D12/100 Ownership trails most states. Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Choctaw, #476 nationally. Compared with 65% nationally, 66% of homes here are owner-occupied. Texas, Kansas and Missouri all do better on home ownership.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
40th of 51C−22/100 Natural hazards cost more here than in most states. Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Guymon, #635 nationally. Natural hazards are expected to cost $161 a year per $100,000 of buildings, the 15th highest rate in the country. Expect inland flooding above all; it makes up 57% of FEMA’s estimate.
Federal major-disaster declarations since 2015: 19, 8th most.
Behind the figure: inland flooding 57%, tornado 11%, hail 10% of FEMA’s expected losses.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
13th of 51A−76/100 Consistently short commutes. Workers spend 22.4 minutes getting to work, the 12th shortest commute among the states. Its larger towns score well almost across the board, from Altus to Ada.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
19th of 51B64/100 Growing a bit faster than average. Builders added 5.6 homes per 1,000 residents in 2025, after the population grew 5.5% from 2010 to 2020 (25th slowest). Its best town is Jenks, #182 of 5,079, and 52% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
New homes permitted in 2025: 5.6 per 1,000 residents (19th most).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 46 Oklahoma towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Oklahoma compares to its neighbors
Against Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and New Mexico, Oklahoma trails on schools and housing.
| Oklahoma | Texas | Kansas | Missouri | Arkansas | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | D 1444th of 51 | C 2638th of 51 | C+ 4031st of 51 | B 6021st of 51 | C− 2439th of 51 |
| Safety | C− 2039th official · 3% in top towns | B− 5231st official · 7% in top towns | D 1446th official · 3% in top towns | C+ 4441st official · 9% in top towns | C− 1848th official · 5% in top towns |
| Schools | D− 350th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7034th official · 15% in top towns | C+ 4033rd official · 2% in top towns | B 6238th official · 13% in top towns | B− 5046th official · 9% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A− 829th official · 29% in top towns | C− 2440th official · 4% in top towns | B+ 6628th official · 54% in top towns | A 8616th official · 54% in top towns | A+ 963rd official · 60% in top towns |
| Health | D 1440th official · 4% in top towns | C 2841st official · 15% in top towns | B+ 7019th official · 29% in top towns | C− 1838th official · 7% in top towns | D− 348th official · 0% in top towns |
| Housing | D 1238th official · 1% in top towns | D 1446th official · 7% in top towns | C 3028th official · 7% in top towns | B+ 7021st official · 13% in top towns | C− 1636th official · 3% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C− 2237th official · <1% in top towns | B− 5423rd official · 10% in top towns | C+ 4420th official · 4% in top towns | C+ 3832nd official · 1% in top towns | D 842nd official · 0% in top towns |
| Commute | A− 7612th official · 41% in top towns | C 2640th official · 16% in top towns | A 867th official · 81% in top towns | B 6217th official · 32% in top towns | A− 8413th official · 76% in top towns |
| Growth | B 6427th official · 52% in top towns | A− 843rd official · 40% in top towns | C 3438th official · 20% in top towns | C 2840th official · 15% in top towns | B− 5036th official · 40% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work