Best PlacesFlorida, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Florida, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Florida ranks 3,934th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Florida
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.
Florida's strengths and weaknesses
Where Florida ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$126,361 median, better than 94% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 93% of towns
Where Florida ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Florida
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Florida home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $126,361; 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 Florida's effective rate of 2.33%, 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 Florida
Florida runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Florida.
Who works in Florida, and how
Work in Florida centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Florida
Florida has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Florida and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Florida, month by month
Florida sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Florida
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 45 miles away.
The best schools in and around Florida
Schools across Florida average an A−, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sanfordville Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Golden Hill ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Chester Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Warwick Valley Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- C J Hooker Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Goshen Central High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Warwick Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- S S Seward InstituteA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Florida school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Florida 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 Florida against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Florida
Is Florida a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Florida ranks 3,934th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, fast internet, and population health, and lowest on property taxes 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 Florida expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $443,892. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $126,361 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Florida safe?
Yes, Florida is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
Compare Florida with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Florida. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Florida 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.
Florida detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Florida: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Florida: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Florida: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Florida: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Florida 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.