Best PlacesFort Meade, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Meade, 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.
Fort Meade ranks 40,685th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Meade
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.
Fort Meade's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Meade ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 144 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
Where Fort Meade ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Meade
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Meade home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,779, 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 Fort Meade'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 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 Fort Meade
Fort Meade runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Meade.
Who works in Fort Meade, and how
Work in Fort Meade centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Fort Meade
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Meade.
What the weather is like in Fort Meade, month by month
Fort Meade sees roughly 144 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 60° | 51° |
| April | 84° | 73° | 62° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 85° | 76° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Fort Meade
Tampa International sits about 49 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 Fort Meade
Schools across Fort Meade average a C+, better than 45% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bowling Green Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Alturas Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Avon Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Union AcademyA · 67% proficient
- Avon Park Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Bartow Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Bartow Senior High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Hardee Junior High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Avon Park High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Meade school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Meade 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 Fort Meade against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Meade
Is Fort Meade a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Meade ranks 40,685th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and transit, and lowest on summer heat and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Meade expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,530. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $49,779 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Fort Meade safe?
Fort Meade is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $198 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Meade with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Meade. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Meade 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.
Fort Meade detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Meade: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Meade: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Meade: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Meade: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Meade 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.