Best PlacesDowntown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach ranks 2,296th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm 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.
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Local economyBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
Where Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach
A household needs to earn about $239,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,704, 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 Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm 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 Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach.
Who works in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, and how
Work in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 47%
- Work from home 38%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, month by month
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 78, with lows near 57. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78° | 67° | 57° |
| April | 85° | 76° | 68° |
| July | 92° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 87° | 80° | 73° |
Flying in and out of Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach
Palm Beach International sits about 3 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach
Schools across Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach average a B, better than 65% of neighborhoods.
Top middle schools
- Conniston Middle SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Alexander W Dreyfoos Junior School Of The ArtsA+ · 86% proficient
- Forest Hill Community High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm 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 Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach
Is Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach ranks 2,296th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on walkability, a strong job market, and state infrastructure, 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 Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $899,792. The overall cost of living runs about 21% above the national average. Set against a $99,704 median income, cost of living beats 74% of neighborhoods.
Is Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach safe?
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach is safer than 16% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $499 per resident a year.
Compare Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm 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.
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downtown West Palm Beach, West Palm 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.