Thousand Oaks, CA — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·California·Thousand Oaks

Ventura County · Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura · population 124,229

Shrinking
Thousand Oaks, CA
Image: Wikipedia · Thousand Oaks, California
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
60
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Thousand Oaks stands

At or near all-time high. population shrinking 0.5% per year.

Median home $1,053,424
1-year -0.0%
5-yr CAGR +4.4%
vs 5-yr peak -0.5%
Population -0.5%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2024-09$1053k$617k$778k$940k$1101k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
40/100
Car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
30/100
Minimal transit
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
46/100
Marginal for remote
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$3,396/mo$2,501$3,051$3,600202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent124128100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 25.8
Rent

At a 25.8 price-to-rent ratio, renting beats buying in Thousand Oaks for most shorter holds. The premium you pay to own would take many years of rent savings to recoup, and that's before maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost on the down payment.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
50 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
61 · w22%
Distance from peak
87 · w18%
Population growth
37 · w16%
Rent YoY
64 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
59 · w10%
Long thesis

Thousand Oaks has held up across the cycle: home values at $1,053,424 with +4.4% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Thousand Oaks's population is shrinking 0.5% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — if people are leaving, the buyer pool is shrinking faster than the inventory. That eventually shows up in price.

About Thousand Oaks

Thousand Oaks is a city in Ventura County, California, with an estimated population of 124,229. It anchors the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura metro area. The population has contracted 0.5% per year on average since 2020. The median home value in Thousand Oaks is $1,053,424 as of 2026-04, down 0.0% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +4.4% annual growth, with prices at or near the 5-year peak. Rents in Thousand Oaks average $3,396 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+2.9%). The composite momentum score is 60 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Held the highs: currently -0.5% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
○The data is the data: Thousand Oaks has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

▼ Bear case

●Expensive AND not growing: median home $1,053,424 with only -0.0% YoY. You’re paying premium pricing for a flat trend.
●Flat or shrinking population: -0.5% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — verify the source.

About Thousand Oaks (Wikipedia)

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.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorMikey Taylor
Area55.40 sq mi
Elevation886 ft
EstablishedOctober 7, 1964
Densityauto/sq mi

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Ventura County right now.

NWS active alerts (CA)California Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Ventura County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Neighborhoods of Thousand Oaks

1 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Newbury Park$1,029,260-0.4%

Cities like Thousand Oaks

Glendale, CA55 · StableCamarillo, CA58 · StablePomona, CA59 · StableOxnard, CA57 · Stable

Run the numbers for Thousand Oaks

ToolCan I afford Thousand Oaks?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Thousand Oaks rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Thousand Oaks to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolThousand Oaks cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
60° / 41°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
82° / 60°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
258
~71% of year
Annual precip
22″ rain
8″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very low
Tornado
Very low
Wildfire
Very high
Earthquake
Very high
Flood
Moderate

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Thousand Oaks listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
65%
Moderate climate
Median household income
$91,500
California state median
Top industries (state-level)
TechEntertainmentAgriculture

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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