Best PlacesClearwater Beach, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clearwater Beach, 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.
Clearwater Beach ranks 6,992nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clearwater Beach
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.
Clearwater Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clearwater Beach ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
Where Clearwater Beach ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clearwater Beach
A household needs to earn about $217,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clearwater Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $110,613, 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 Clearwater Beach's effective rate of 0.87%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Clearwater Beach
Clearwater Beach runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clearwater Beach.
Who works in Clearwater Beach, and how
Work in Clearwater Beach centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Clearwater Beach
Clearwater Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clearwater Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clearwater Beach, month by month
Clearwater Beach sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 52. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 61° | 52° |
| April | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| July | 93° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 87° | 78° | 71° |
Flying in and out of Clearwater Beach
The nearest airport, St Pete-Clearwater International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 18 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clearwater Beach
Schools across Clearwater Beach average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Curtis Fundamental ElementaryA+ · 82% proficient
- San Jose Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Belleair Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clearwater Fundamental Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Dunedin Highland Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Largo Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Largo High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Dunedin High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Clearwater High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clearwater Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clearwater Beach 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 Clearwater Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clearwater Beach
Is Clearwater Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clearwater Beach ranks 6,992nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, state infrastructure, and transit, and lowest on summer heat and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clearwater Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $822,646. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $110,613 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Clearwater Beach safe?
Clearwater Beach is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
Compare Clearwater Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clearwater Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clearwater Beach 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.
Clearwater Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clearwater Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clearwater Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clearwater Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clearwater Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clearwater Beach 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.