Best PlacesDay, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Day, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Day ranks 31,929th 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 Day
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.
Day's strengths and weaknesses
Where Day ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 80% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 116 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
Where Day ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Day
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Day home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,092, 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 Day'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 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 Day
Day 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 Day.
Who works in Day, and how
Work in Day centers on public administration and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Day
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Day.
What the weather is like in Day, month by month
Day sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 53° | 41° |
| April | 83° | 69° | 56° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Day
The nearest airport, Valdosta Regional, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Day
Schools across Day average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lafayette Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
- High Springs Community SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lake City Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Suwannee Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Lafayette High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Branford High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Day school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Day 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 Day against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Day
Is Day a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Day ranks 31,929th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Day expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,292. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $65,092 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Day safe?
Yes, Day is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Day with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Day. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Day 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.
Day detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Day: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Day: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Day: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Day: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Day 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.