Oakland 2026The independent atlas report on Oakland, United States.

Oakland in 200 numbers. Read this before you read anything else.

A Mediterranean city of 440,000, year round 7 to 26 degree range and 3,060 sunshine hours, the city profile in one stat grid.

Oakland scored 7.0 on the everycity index, placing it in the workable band of the global cohort of 5,000 cities. A single person spends $3,680 a month here including rent, groceries, transport and utilities. A working couple spends $5,540. Internet runs at a median 312 Mbps on residential fiber per OOKLA Speedtest readings from April 2026. The average reported salary, blended across sectors, is $6,840 a month. Safety reads 5.8 on a 0 to 10 scale, with the night safety subindex at 4.6, the female solo subindex at 5.4, and the family subindex at 6.2. The metro area holds 440,000 people and sits at 37.804363 degrees north, 122.271111 degrees west. The summer high lands at 26 Celsius, the winter low at 7 Celsius. The city averages 3,060 sunshine hours a year.

Compared with peer cities, Oakland sits within the regional cohort on monthly outlay. For broader context, the Americas continent page ranks the regional top 25 cities. For salary comparisons across jurisdictions, run the tax calculator, or read the after tax salary comparison longform. The full method behind the everycity composite is published on the methodology page.

Risk, by the subindex.

No moral panic, no rose tint. Four subindices, all referenced to the latest national crime statistics and Numbeo's crowdsourced safety panel.

Oakland's overall safety score lands at 5.8, which places it in the workable band on the everycity index. The female solo subindex reads 5.4 and the night walk subindex reads 4.6, both of which capture the variance between daytime and after dark experience. Family safety, weighted for primary school commute risk, sits at 6.2. Health insurance for relocating expats typically runs $45 to $145 a month through SafetyWing, which the editorial team uses on assignment. For broader context the global safest cities ranking places Oakland alongside its regional peers in the cohort table.

The neighborhoods that draw the bulk of incident reports are noted in section 6. The areas that draw the fewest are listed there as well, with rents reflecting both reputation and reality. A foreigner walking with a phone in hand on a main avenue at 1 a.m. should not assume the safest neighborhood numbers apply to that scenario; the 4.6 night subindex is the figure that matters. Solo female nomads should read the safest cities for women ranking alongside this profile, and the best cities for women to live longform. Families should review the safest cities for families ranking for the regional cohort.

Who pays, and how much.

Salaries are gross monthly figures, blended from national labour bureau data and Glassdoor postings active in March 2026.

Largest employers in metro Oakland

1. Kaiser Permanente Northern California (the structural single largest employer in the metropolitan East Bay with 38,000 staff across the Oakland Medical Center, the Richmond Medical Center, and the broader Northern California Kaiser footprint headquartered on the Broadway corridor)
2. Port of Oakland (the structural single largest US West Coast port for containerized exports and the fifth largest US container port overall with 2.4 million TEU containers annually)
3. City of Oakland and Alameda County government (the structural municipal and county employer with 8,200 combined staff under the Mayor Sheng Thao administration)
4. Pandora Media (the historic 2000 founded music streaming company acquired by Sirius XM in 2019, the structural Oakland headquartered technology company with 1,800 staff on the 17th and Broadway downtown campus)
5. Clorox Company (the historic 1913 founded consumer products company, the structural Oakland headquartered Fortune 500 company at the 1221 Broadway headquarters)
6. Blue Shield of California (the structural California health insurance carrier with the Oakland Lake Merritt office tower)
7. Oakland Unified School District OUSD (the structural single largest education employer with 5,400 staff across 80 public schools)
8. California State University East Bay and Mills College at Northeastern (the structural higher education employers in the metropolitan area)

The blended average salary in Oakland runs $6,840 a month, gross of tax. A senior software developer earns $11,200 on local payroll, while a senior financial analyst commands $9,600. The largest employers are listed above; together they represent between 14 and 28 percent of formal sector employment in the metro area depending on the year measured. Expats moving regular income across borders typically use Wise at the daily mid market rate, which removes the 1.4 to 3.2 percent retail spread that local banks charge.

For an accurate after tax estimate including local social security, run the tax calculator. For a market wide salary view, the highest salary cities ranking and the highest paying cities after tax ranking place Oakland in the relevant cohort. The lowest tax cities ranking covers the relative position on tax. For the cohort of cities offering strong tech salaries the tech jobs ranking is the right starting point.

Seven quarters, one verdict each.

A working map of where to live in Oakland in 2026, ordered loosely from highest cost to lowest commute.

Rockridge and Upper Rockridge is the highest priced and the most likely to deliver the lifestyle a Western expat imagines. Piedmont Avenue and Adams Point is the value pick at a different price point. Temescal and Bushrod is the modern family pick for the upper middle class. Glenview and Crocker Highlands sits in the academic or specialty cohort. The full neighborhood by neighborhood walk through, with photos, is in the Oakland neighborhoods longform, scheduled to publish in Q3 2026.

Long term rental supply in Oakland is concentrated in the four to seven year old apartment stock; older buildings often lack reliable elevators or, in some districts, reliable hot water during the coldest months. Furnished one bedroom listings turn over in a median 8 days at the city center price point and 12 days in the outer ring per the local portals indexed by the editorial property platform guide. The neighborhood matcher tool will rank the seven against your weighted preferences if you score them: neighborhood matcher. For relocating families with school age children, the family friendly cities ranking is the next read in the sequence.

For the kids, and the postgrads.

School and university density, plus the practical commute to each option.

International and bilingual schools

• The Head Royce School (the historic 1887 founded independent K through 12 on the Lincoln Avenue site in the Oakland Hills, the structural single most distinguished private K through 12 in the East Bay)
• Bishop O Dowd High School (the historic 1951 founded Catholic independent on the Stearns Avenue site)
• College Preparatory School (the structural Berkeley adjacent private secondary in north Oakland)
• Oakland Technical High School (the historic 1914 founded public secondary on Broadway, the structural single most distinguished Oakland public secondary, alumni include Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, and Rickey Henderson)
• Skyline High School (the structural Oakland Hills public secondary serving the Crocker Highlands and Montclair catchment)
• Berkeley International High School (the structural International Baccalaureate option in Berkeley nearby)

Universities

• University of California Berkeley (the structural flagship UC campus 8 kilometers north of Oakland, the historic 1868 founded public research university ranked first among US public universities by US News in 2025, with 45,000 students)
• Mills College at Northeastern University (the historic 1852 founded womens college acquired by Northeastern in 2022, the structural Oakland Hills liberal arts campus)
• California College of the Arts CCA (the historic 1907 founded art and design college on the Broadway campus, the structural single most distinguished West Coast art and design school)
• Samuel Merritt University (the structural healthcare focused private university on the Pill Hill campus, the leading West Coast nursing and physician assistant program)
• Holy Names University (the historic 1868 founded Catholic university on the Mountain Boulevard campus, closed 2023 with operations transferring to Saint Marys College)

Relocating families in Oakland typically pick from the school cluster listed above. Tuition for relocating expatriate families typically runs $2,800 a year at the lower priced bilingual options and $7,400 a year at the international baccalaureate flagships. Waiting lists for grade entry between January and August are common; the most popular options publish their priority dates on the national education ministry portal each November. The combined family safety subindex of 6.2 on the everycity index should be read alongside the school commute when ranking neighborhoods.

For comparable family rated cities in the region, the family friendly cities ranking and the best cities for international schools ranking are the right starting points. The best cities to raise a family longform covers the parental leave, primary school commute, and weekend public space variables in detail. For local pediatric specialists, the editorial guide on international health insurance lists the in network hospitals near each Oakland school cluster. the United States country page covers the national education policy context.

What makes the city itself.

Food signatures, nightlife rating, and the cultural through line that separates Oakland from its regional neighbors.

The food signatures of Oakland include the structural Bay Area California cuisine tradition pioneered at Chez Panisse in nearby Berkeley by Alice Waters in 1971, the historic Oakland Mexican American culinary corridor in Fruitvale on International Boulevard with the structural Otaez Mexican Restaurant, the Cocina Poblana, and the Mi Pueblo Food Center, the post 2010 Temescal craft food renaissance on Telegraph Avenue with Pizzaiolo, the historic Mama Lamb Korean cuisine on Webster Street, the structural Oakland Chinatown on 8th and Webster (the second oldest US Chinatown after San Francisco), the post 2015 West Oakland brewery cluster with Drakes Dealership and Federation Brewing, and the historic Oakland coffee roaster cluster with Blue Bottle Coffee founded 2002 in West Oakland. The high points of the dining year run through June through September, when restaurant temperatures sit at the comfortable end of the range and the produce calendar peaks. For longer reads on the cuisine, the best food cities ranking and the Michelin cities ranking place Oakland in the relevant cohort regionally. Nightlife sits at a 7.6 rating on the everycity scale. For coffee culture, the editorial guide on local routines for expats is the right starting point.

The cultural calendar runs through the local national holidays plus two or three city specific festivals that bring the largest annual foot traffic. The United States cultural and creative industries policy is reviewed in detail on the United States country page, and the continent page covers the broader pattern across the region. For evening life specifically, the best nightlife cities ranking includes the Oakland cohort, and the cities for music ranking covers live venue density. Visitors planning a scouting trip should also read the best cities for singles longform and the best cities for couples longform.

Keep going.