Best PlacesDover, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dover, 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.
Dover ranks 19,753rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dover
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.
Dover's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dover ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
Where Dover ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dover
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dover home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $85,774; 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 Dover's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Dover
Dover'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 Dover.
Who works in Dover, and how
Work in Dover centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Dover
The coast is about 22 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Dover, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dover, month by month
Dover sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 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° | 60° | 52° |
| April | 86° | 75° | 64° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 87° | 77° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Dover
Tampa International sits about 19 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.1 million passengers in 2025, with 135 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Dover
Schools across Dover average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Patricia Sullivan Metropolitan Ministries Partnership SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Nelson Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Bailey Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Randall Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Mulrennan Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Tomlin Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Newsome High SchoolA · 74% proficient
- Strawberry Crest High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Durant High SchoolB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dover school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dover 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 Dover against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Dover suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 71% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Dover
Is Dover a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dover ranks 19,753rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and cell coverage, and lowest on car insurance costs and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dover expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $351,046. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $85,774 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Dover safe?
Yes, Dover is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dover?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 73 with lows near 52. That works out to about 125 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of towns.
Is Dover good for families?
Schools beat 73% of towns, crime safety beats 55%, and childcare runs $973 a month.
Compare Dover with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dover. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dover 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.
Dover detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dover: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dover: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dover: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dover: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dover 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.