Best Places34601, FL Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 34601, 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

34601 ranks 21,874th 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.

#21,874
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 34601

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 34601 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.

34601's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%State infrastructure
Top 5%Low taxes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 34601 with other zip codes.

Where 34601 ranks high

  • State infrastructureBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$651 a month, better than 80% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 79% of zip codes

Where 34601 ranks low

  • Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • Short commute32.0 minutes each way, better than only 20% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 21% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 34601

A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 34601 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,358, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$53,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,239
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $203,803 home
Median rent
$1,073
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,039
Property tax$132
Homeowners insurance$68

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 34601's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 6 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 34601

34601 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
51
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
32%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1816%
18 to 3416%
35 to 4917%
50 to 6420%
65 and older32%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 34601.


Who works in 34601, and how

Work in 34601 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
12%
below the national average
Unemployment
5.9%
above the national average
Job growth
+1.6%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social13%
Retail trade13%
Construction12%
Hospitality & food10%
Other services7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 80%
  • Work from home 12%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 7%

Life in 34601

34601 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 74% of zip codes. The coast is about 30 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 34601 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
110
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 47.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 66% of zip codes
Coffee shops
21
about 9.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 82% of zip codes
Parkland
106 acres
about 4.6 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 74% of zip codes
To the coast
30 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 34601, month by month

34601 sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January73°58°45°
April86°72°57°
July93°81°73°
October88°74°63°

Flying in and out of 34601

Tampa International sits about 42 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.1 million passengers in 2025, with 135 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
TPA
Tampa International, about 42 miles
Airport size
Large hub
27th-busiest in the US, 135 nonstop destinations
Average drive
60 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 34601

Schools across 34601 average a B, better than 63% 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 34601 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


34601 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 34601 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 34601 suits

Families

Schools beat 63% of zip codes and crime safety beats 65%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

12% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 87% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 34601

Is 34601 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 34601 ranks 21,874th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and the weather, 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 34601 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $203,803. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $64,358 median income, cost of living beats 35% of zip codes.

Is 34601 safe?

Yes, 34601 is safer than 65% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $208 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 34601?

July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 73 with lows near 45. That works out to about 145 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of zip codes.

Is 34601 good for families?

Schools beat 63% of zip codes, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $651 a month.


Compare 34601 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 34601. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 34601 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.

34601 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 34601: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 34601: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 34601: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 34601: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

34601 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.