Best PlacesArecibo, PR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arecibo, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arecibo is unranked among cities under the default weighting. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Arecibo
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.
The best areas in Arecibo
The parts of Arecibo, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Paseo Reales
Comunidad Buenos Aires
Vista Azul & Urbanizacion University Gdns-Arecibo
Urbanizacion Los Llanos
Barrio Islote 2
Parcelas Mattey, Hacienda Toledo & Parcelas Navas
Reparto San Juan
Urbanizacion Victor Rojas 2, Urbanizacion Victor Rojas 1 & Villa Serena
Scores across Arecibo run from about the 1st to the 2nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Arecibo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arecibo ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Cheap childcare$384 a month, better than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 77% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 75% of cities
Where Arecibo ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 0 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Arecibo
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arecibo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $29,617, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Arecibo's effective rate of 0.03%, 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.
Who lives in Arecibo
Arecibo runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arecibo.
Who works in Arecibo, and how
Work in Arecibo centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Arecibo
Arecibo has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of cities. The coast is about 3 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Arecibo and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arecibo, month by month
Arecibo sees roughly 0 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 82, with lows near 70. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 82° | 77° | 70° |
| April | 83° | 79° | 72° |
| July | 88° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 87° | 81° | 74° |
Flying in and out of Arecibo
The nearest airport, Rafael Hernandez, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Luis Munoz Marin International, about 47 miles away.
Arecibo 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 Arecibo against cities nationally.
Who Arecibo suits
Families
Weigh schools and safety yourself on the map to find the right neighborhoods.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Arecibo
Is Arecibo a good place to live?
It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and clean air, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arecibo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $125,357. Set against a $29,617 median income, cost of living beats 50% of cities.
Is Arecibo safe?
Arecibo is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $793 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Arecibo?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 82 with lows near 70. That works out to about 0 pleasant days a year, more than 0% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Arecibo?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Paseo Reales, Comunidad Buenos Aires, and Vista Azul & Urbanizacion University Gdns-Arecibo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Arecibo with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arecibo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arecibo 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.
Arecibo detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arecibo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arecibo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arecibo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arecibo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arecibo detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.