Best Places34235, FL Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 34235, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

34235 ranks 8,642nd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.

#8,642
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 34235

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 34235 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

34235's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%State infrastructure
Top 5%Low taxes
Top 10%Low crime
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 34235 with other zip codes.

Where 34235 ranks high

  • State infrastructureBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 93% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of zip codes

Where 34235 ranks low

  • Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 27% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$945 a month, better than only 39% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 34235

A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 34235 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,628, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$94,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,185
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $365,896 home
Median rent
$1,749
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,866
Property tax$197
Homeowners insurance$122

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 34235's effective rate of 0.65%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 34235

34235 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
55
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
39%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.2
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1812%
18 to 3416%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6417%
65 and older39%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 34235.


Who works in 34235, and how

Work in 34235 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
15%
about the national average
Unemployment
4.7%
about the national average
Job growth
+8.8%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social17%
Retail trade13%
Construction11%
Professional & technical10%
Education7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 83%
  • Work from home 15%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 34235

34235 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of zip codes. The coast is about 14 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of 34235 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
68
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 46.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 65% of zip codes
Coffee shops
8
about 5.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 69% of zip codes
To the coast
14 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 34235, month by month

34235 sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 74, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January74°62°51°
April85°74°64°
July92°83°76°
October88°77°70°

Flying in and out of 34235

The nearest airport, Sarasota/Bradenton International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 42 miles away.

Nearest airport
SRQ
Sarasota/Bradenton International, about 5 miles
Airport size
Small hub
70th-busiest in the US, 85 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 34235

Schools across 34235 average a B−, better than 52% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 34235 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


34235 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 34235 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 34235

Is 34235 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 34235 ranks 8,642nd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and low crime, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 34235 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $365,896. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $79,628 median income, cost of living beats 64% of zip codes.

Is 34235 safe?

Yes, 34235 is safer than 95% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $108 per resident a year.


Compare 34235 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 34235. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 34235 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

34235 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 34235: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 34235: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 34235: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 34235: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

34235 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.