Best PlacesEnsley, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ensley, 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.
Ensley ranks 30,940th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ensley
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.
Ensley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ensley ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
Where Ensley ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ensley
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ensley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,792, 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 Ensley's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ensley
Ensley runs younger 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 Ensley.
Who works in Ensley, and how
Work in Ensley centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ensley
Ensley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 23 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ensley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ensley, month by month
Ensley sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 61° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 77° |
| October | 82° | 73° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Ensley
The nearest airport, Pensacola International, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ensley
Schools across Ensley average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine Meadow Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Reinhardt Holm Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- L. D. Mcarthur Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brown Barge Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Ransom Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ferry Pass Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- J. M. Tate Senior High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Washington Senior High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
- Pine Forest High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ensley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ensley 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 Ensley against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Ensley suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ensley
Is Ensley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ensley ranks 30,940th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and transit, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Ensley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $224,049. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $59,792 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Ensley safe?
Yes, Ensley is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $189 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ensley?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 45. That works out to about 125 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of towns.
Is Ensley good for families?
Schools beat 60% of towns, crime safety beats 58%, and childcare runs $781 a month.
Compare Ensley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ensley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ensley 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.
Ensley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ensley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ensley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ensley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ensley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ensley 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.