I really like the fall foliage of scarlet oak, and some northern red oak also have a good color but it depends on the individual tree.

I'll submit my Q. X turneri (seedling) as the worst. They just turn an unattractive shade of gray in late November, even if not yet hit by a freeze which generally are no earlier than Thanksgiving for me. They hold on for a month or two until knocked off by wind or snow. There might be a slighly scalloping of yellow as they turn, but not even noticeable from a distance. I guess at this point I just keep it as a curiosity. Even AL Jacobson disparages the presumably evergreen ones of Vancouver as being singularly gaunt and unattractive.
This is related to my point about so-called semi-evergreen oaks being a losing proposition if you're in a climate where they are going to be borderline hardy. You need to be somewhere where they will stay green most winters.

I agree w/the scarlet & northern red oak recommendation. Though pin oaks are often promoted for fall color, they often seem to only turn a pale red that quickly fades to brown.

My oak which is likely a red oak or maybe a black oak. Turns brown! lol

Pin oaks are here seem very variable. Some are decent. Some just have leaves that turn brown and stay on all year. I might even be misidentifying other oaks as pin oaks with decent fall color.

Some red oaks, most white and scarlett oaks have good classy late fall color. As my identification skills expand I'll expand my review.

Quercus alba produces good color, many other species make a poor showing. White oak looks better to me than most other deciduous oaks overall, not just in autumn. Although the leaf outline of Hungarian oak is certainly distinctive and memorable, and California valley oak produces a large yet airy dome of small leaves that is quite nice, and...

Hair pretty much nailed everything. Spot on!

Here is a promising swamp chestnut oak at my house. Pic is a couple days old. The red is extremely VIVID in person :)

Thanks!

Where does Black Oak fit in all this?

Some years Post Oak have bright red color locally. I posted pics a couple years ago of Scarlet Red Post Oaks to this site. But they are at best unreliable.

IMHO, Scarlet, White, Nuttall Oaks are going to be your best overall. With some very nice Pin, NRO, Cow/Swamp Chestnut, Shumard Oaks among others. With any of them, genetics and environment can result in Awesome or duds. Either get a group of small trees and pick the best, and give away the rest, or choose during the fall color display.

Arktrees

In my yard my Pin oaks (2) are the best red and a long lasting red. Q. Palustris I believe. My Nuttalli's are good also, one in particular is early in turning red. It keeps the red hue in spring. In OW it is red for spring and keeps that hue into early summer. It was never listed on the tag as special in any way, but, I believe it is special since the red hue is there for a while in spring and early fall, well, whatever. My Chestnut oaks get a "little" yellow on them, but not too showy, maybe when it gets bigger more yellow leaves will be on it. My Velutina is crappy colored in fall. I love the tree, but It is crap brown in fall. My dawn redwood is orange briefly, very briefly. My q. albas get some yellow, but I don't recall any red. But, the local wild growing Q. Albas have red foliage. My what I thought was Cerris, but Dax Id'd as Muehlenbergi (or) Mixxachi, I know I misspelled that last name. One near my house is getting yellow leaves now. My Beech is reliably yellow in fall. My London plane will be yellowish then brown crap. My 2 Q. Robur is a crappy brown reliably. One was green into Decenber and MAYBE some of January the winter before last. That would be winter 2012-2013. I am rambling, I guess, bottom line is : Pin oak and a Particular Nuttalls oak were top for red fall color. My Willow oaks may be a good yellow once they get a decent size, but not sure.

Depending on frost conditions, some of the large black oaks near me turn a fairly decent yellow. Early & hard frosts tend to kill the colors & turn them brown.

My "Shumard" oak, which seems to have some pin, scarlet or nuttall oak in it, turns a vivid scarlet first week of Nov w/leaves hanging on thru winter.

Just to mention, many of the sugar maples near me are near peak color now. Happens early every year, but my guess is the wild, forest ones here are of a northern phenotype & turn about the same time as their more northern cousins.

Some of my q. prinus seedlings has got nice red color now. Nothing compared to q. rubra though.

Huggorm, do you mean Chestnut oak? I've been told that the Prinus has been changed to Q. Montana, but I guess we know what you mean. I am surprised if the chestnut oak turns red, but I guess each tree is an individual.

People have reported that burr oak is lack-luster in terms of fall foliage color.

Richard.

"Huggorm, do you mean Chestnut oak? I've been told that the Prinus has been changed to Q. Montana, but I guess we know what you mean. I am surprised if the chestnut oak turns red, but I guess each tree is an individual."
Yes, thatôs the one. Those are first years seedlings though, grown in pots and planted out only a few weeks ago. I guess they wont get that red next year.

Below is a "classic" shumard oak with red/orange color:

I have a few Pin Oaks (Quercus palustris), what I notice is they get better fall color as they mature. Mine get a beautiful copper red color. My second favorite for fall color.

Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii) is my favorite, red/orange look is beautiful.

The worst fall color by far is my willow oak (Quercus phellos). Dull brownish yellow.

Best color I have seen is on Texas Red Oak near Gatesville, Tx.
Their colors range from yellow to orange to red and lots of it.
They are not available in nursery trade.
White Oak is probably the best in commercially available trees with Shumard a close second.
Bur Oak is a fine shade tree, but its shortcoming is absolutely no fall color - brown.

It depends on your ph.

So just the opposite here as what was said above.

Quercus alba, bicolor and ellipsoidalis have the best fall color as they are tolerant of alkaline soils.

rubra and coccinea are duds in alkaline. The coccinea at the Milwaukee botanical gardens was a nasty chlorotic yellow last year.

It would be for an area with fairly acidic soil, sand in spots and dense clay in spots.

My oldest Q. Alba ( about 30 ft tall now, yeah!) is turning yellow. But those not far from me are reddish. My younger Pin oak is just starting to get Burgundy, a couple leaves now. My Nuttalli that gets brilliant red is still green. I don't think we've gotten cold enough for most of my trees. Should be soon though.