Best PlacesEscambia County, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Escambia County, 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.
Escambia County ranks 1,581st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in disaster risk, car insurance costs, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Escambia County
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 Escambia County
The parts of Escambia County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Cantonment, Gonzalez & Molino
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
Gulf Breeze
More homes sit empty and fewer households have young kids.
Pensacola
More adults hold degrees, though it is noisier.
Myrtle Grove
Tree cover is thicker, though streets are more car-dependent.
Ensley
Schools score higher.
Ferry Pass
Scores close to Ensley, except that homes cost more here.
Bellview
Scores close to Ferry Pass, except that health outcomes score lower here.
Brent
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
West Pensacola & Warrington
Biking is better, though prices have run up more.
Scores across Escambia County run from about the 1st to the 90th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Escambia County's strengths and weaknesses
Escambia County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Low taxes and transit follow.
The one real hole is disaster risk, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and summer heat also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Escambia County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of counties
- TransitBetter than 89% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of counties
- BikingBetter than 87% of counties
Where Escambia County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 28% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Escambia County
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Escambia County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,834, 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 Escambia County's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Escambia County
Escambia County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Escambia County.
Who works in Escambia County, and how
Work in Escambia County 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 79%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Escambia County
Escambia County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of counties. The coast is about 22 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Escambia County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Escambia County growing, and who is moving in?
Escambia County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Pensacola, FL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Escambia County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Escambia County, month by month
Escambia County sees roughly 122 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 Escambia County
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 181 miles away.
The best schools in and around Escambia County
Schools across Escambia County average a C+, better than 58% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Pensacola Beach Elementary School IncA+ · 88% proficient
- Gulf Breeze Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- N. B. Cook Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gulf Breeze Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Brown Barge Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Woodlawn Beach Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Gulf Breeze High SchoolA · 74% proficient
- West Florida High School/technicalA · 68% proficient
- J. M. Tate Senior High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Escambia County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Escambia County 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 Escambia County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Escambia County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Escambia County
Is Escambia County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Escambia County ranks 1,581st of 3,144 counties. 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 Escambia County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $266,038. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $72,834 median income, cost of living beats 54% of counties.
Is Escambia County safe?
Yes, Escambia County is safer than 64% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Escambia County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 45. That works out to about 122 pleasant days a year, more than 76% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Escambia County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cantonment, Gonzalez & Molino, Gulf Breeze, and Pensacola. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Escambia County good for families?
Schools beat 58% of counties, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $781 a month.
Is Escambia County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 54% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Escambia County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Escambia County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Escambia County 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.
Escambia County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Escambia County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Escambia County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Escambia County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Escambia County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Escambia County 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.