Best PlacesBartow, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bartow, 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.
Bartow ranks 1,486th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bartow
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.
Bartow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bartow ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- QuietBetter than 82% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 76% of cities
Where Bartow ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 12% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bartow
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bartow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,956, 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 Bartow's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Bartow
Bartow runs younger than the country, 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 Bartow.
Who works in Bartow, and how
Work in Bartow centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bartow
Bartow has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities. The coast is about 46 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Bartow and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bartow, month by month
Bartow sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 60° | 51° |
| April | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 85° | 76° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Bartow
Tampa International sits about 44 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 Bartow
Schools across Bartow average a C+, better than 38% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Bartow Elementary AcademyA · 62% proficient
- Chain Of Lakes Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Alturas Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union AcademyA · 67% proficient
- Lakeland Highlands Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Mulberry Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- George W. Jenkins Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
- Bartow Senior High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Mulberry Senior High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bartow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bartow 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 Bartow against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Bartow suits
Families
Schools land around the 38th percentile and crime safety beats 68%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bartow
Is Bartow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bartow ranks 1,486th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and quiet, and lowest on health outcomes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bartow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,113. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $68,956 median income, cost of living beats 26% of cities.
Is Bartow safe?
Yes, Bartow is safer than 68% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bartow?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 51. That works out to about 146 pleasant days a year, more than 81% of cities.
Is Bartow good for families?
Schools beat 38% of cities, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $844 a month.
Compare Bartow with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bartow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bartow 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.
Bartow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bartow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bartow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bartow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bartow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bartow 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.