Best PlacesBalm, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Balm, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Balm ranks 5,100th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Balm
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.
Balm's strengths and weaknesses
Where Balm ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
Where Balm ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute34.7 minutes each way, better than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Balm
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Balm home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $113,681; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Balm's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Balm
Balm runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Balm.
Who works in Balm, and how
Work in Balm centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Balm
The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Balm, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Balm, month by month
Balm sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 55. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 62° | 55° |
| April | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| July | 92° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 87° | 78° | 71° |
Flying in and out of Balm
Tampa International sits about 21 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.1 million passengers in 2025, with 135 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Balm
Schools across Balm average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Patricia Sullivan Metropolitan Ministries Partnership SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Wimauma Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Reddick Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barrington Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Shields Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Newsome High SchoolA · 74% proficient
- Lennard High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Balm school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Balm 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 Balm against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Balm
Is Balm a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Balm ranks 5,100th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, a strong job market, and low taxes, and lowest on summer heat and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Balm expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $433,414. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $113,681 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Balm safe?
Yes, Balm is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $111 per resident a year.
Compare Balm with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Balm. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Balm 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.
Balm detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Balm: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Balm: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Balm: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Balm: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Balm 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.