Best PlacesBradenton, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bradenton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bradenton ranks 181st of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Its strengths are quiet and state infrastructure. The cost shows up in summer heat, empty homes, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Bradenton
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 Bradenton
The parts of Bradenton, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Lakewood Ranch
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Cortez
Fewer households have young kids and schools score lower.
Oneco
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Southwestern Bradenton
More homes sit empty and crime runs higher.
Downtown Bradenton
Streets are more walkable, though it is noisier.
Samoset
Heat risk is lower and homes cost less.
Bradenton shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 7% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Bradenton's strengths and weaknesses
Bradenton lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Quiet, state infrastructure, and low taxes carry most of that.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Empty homes and disaster risk also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Bradenton ranks high
- QuietBetter than 96% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of cities
Where Bradenton ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bradenton
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bradenton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,175, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Bradenton's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bradenton
Bradenton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bradenton.
Who works in Bradenton, and how
Work in Bradenton centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Bradenton
Bradenton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bradenton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bradenton, month by month
Bradenton 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74° | 62° | 51° |
| April | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| July | 92° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 88° | 77° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Bradenton
The nearest airport, Sarasota/Bradenton International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 35 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bradenton
Schools across Bradenton average a B, better than 81% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Gilbert W Mcneal Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Gene Witt Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Robert Willis Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- R. Dan Nolan Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Dr Mona Jain Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Carlos E. Haile Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Riverview High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Lakewood Ranch High SchoolA− · 64% proficient
- Sarasota High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bradenton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bradenton 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 Bradenton against the other 444 cities.
Who Bradenton suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 75% of cities, health care access beats 87%, and it is quieter than 96%.
Common questions about living in Bradenton
Is Bradenton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bradenton ranks 181st of 445 cities. It scores highest on quiet, state infrastructure, and low taxes, and lowest on summer heat and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bradenton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $424,271. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $89,175 median income, cost of living beats 67% of cities.
Is Bradenton safe?
Yes, Bradenton is safer than 93% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $161 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bradenton?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 74 with lows near 51. That works out to about 158 pleasant days a year, more than 75% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bradenton?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lakewood Ranch, Cortez, and Oneco. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bradenton good for families?
Schools beat 81% of cities, crime safety beats 93%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Is Bradenton good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 67% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 88% of cities. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bradenton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bradenton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bradenton 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.
Bradenton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bradenton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bradenton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bradenton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bradenton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bradenton 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.