Best PlacesCantonment, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cantonment, 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.
Cantonment ranks 11,538th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cantonment
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.
Cantonment's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cantonment ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
Where Cantonment ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 32% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cantonment
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cantonment home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,930, 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 Cantonment's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Cantonment
Cantonment's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Cantonment.
Who works in Cantonment, and how
Work in Cantonment centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Cantonment
Cantonment has more parkland per resident than 88% of towns. The coast is about 32 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Cantonment and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cantonment, month by month
Cantonment sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 61° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 77° |
| October | 82° | 73° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Cantonment
The nearest airport, Pensacola International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cantonment
Schools across Cantonment average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Molino Park ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Kingsfield Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- R. C. Lipscomb Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas L Sims Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Ransom Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ernest Ward Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- J. M. Tate Senior High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Northview High SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Pine Forest High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cantonment school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cantonment 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 Cantonment against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cantonment
Is Cantonment a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cantonment ranks 11,538th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Cantonment expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $289,967. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $90,930 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Cantonment safe?
Yes, Cantonment is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $117 per resident a year.
Compare Cantonment with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cantonment. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cantonment 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.
Cantonment detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cantonment: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cantonment: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cantonment: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cantonment: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cantonment 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.