Best PlacesDaytona Beach, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Daytona Beach metro, 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.
Photo by egveitekki, via commons
Daytona Beach ranks 191st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in summer heat, car insurance costs, and long commutes.
The best neighborhoods in the Daytona Beach metro
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 Daytona Beach
The towns and districts of the Daytona Beach metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Palm Coast & Ormond Beach
Health care is easier to reach.
Bunnell & Pierson
More households have young kids and heat risk is lower.
DeBary & Orange City
Fewer homes sit empty.
Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach & Daytona Beach
Biking is better, though tree cover is thinner.
Deltona
It is quieter, though commutes are longer.
Edgewater
Crime runs lower, though prices have run up more.
DeLand
Homes cost less.
Daytona Beach shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Daytona Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Daytona Beach lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Low taxes and fast internet follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and long commutes also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Daytona Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 143 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than 81% of metro areas
Where Daytona Beach ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Short commute27.5 minutes each way, better than only 10% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Daytona Beach
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Daytona Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $75,279; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Daytona Beach's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Daytona Beach
Daytona 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 Daytona Beach.
Who works in Daytona Beach, and how
Work in Daytona Beach centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Daytona Beach
Daytona Beach has more late-night spots per resident than 77% of metro areas. The coast is about 16 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Daytona Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Daytona Beach growing, and who is moving in?
Daytona Beach has grown about 22% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Orlando, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Daytona Beach go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Daytona Beach, month by month
Daytona Beach sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 85° | 76° | 68° |
Flying in and out of Daytona Beach
The nearest airport, Daytona Beach International, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Daytona Beach
Schools across Daytona Beach average a B, better than 77% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Sweetwater Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Pine Trail Elementary SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Old Kings Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Creekside Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Indian Trails Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Ormond Beach Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Spruce Creek High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Iflagler-virtual FranchiseB+ · 57% proficient
- New Smyrna Beach High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Daytona Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Daytona 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 Daytona Beach against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Daytona Beach suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 84% of metro areas and health care access beats 60%.
Common questions about living in Daytona Beach
Is Daytona Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Daytona Beach ranks 191st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and fast internet, and lowest on summer heat 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 Daytona Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $322,118. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $75,279 median income, cost of living beats 34% of metro areas.
Is Daytona Beach safe?
Yes, Daytona Beach is safer than 81% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $176 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Daytona Beach?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 48. That works out to about 143 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Daytona Beach?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Palm Coast & Ormond Beach, Bunnell & Pierson, and DeBary & Orange City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Daytona Beach good for families?
Schools beat 77% of metro areas, crime safety beats 81%, and childcare runs $839 a month.
Is Daytona Beach good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 34% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 91% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Daytona Beach with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Daytona Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Daytona 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.
Daytona Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Daytona Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Daytona Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Daytona Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Daytona Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Daytona 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.