Best PlacesFort Myers, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Fort Myers metro, 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.
Photo by Fredlyfish4, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Fort Myers ranks 251st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in empty homes, summer heat, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in the Fort Myers metro
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 Fort Myers
The towns and districts of the Fort Myers metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
San Carlos Park, Cypress Lake & Villas
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and local pay stretches further.
Cape Coral
Crime runs lower, though heat risk is higher.
Iona & Sanibel
More homes sit empty and fewer households have young kids.
Bonita Springs & Estero
Incomes run higher, though biking is worse.
Bokeelia
Tree cover is thinner and prices have run up more.
Alva & Fort Myers Shores
It is quieter, though commutes are longer.
Downtown Fort Myers
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Lehigh Acres
Schools score lower.
North Fort Myers
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Fort Myers shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Fort Myers' strengths and weaknesses
Fort Myers lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Low taxes and a strong job market follow.
The one real hole is empty homes, near the bottom of the country. Summer heat and disaster risk also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Fort Myers ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of metro areas
Where Fort Myers ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Short commute29.4 minutes each way, better than only 6% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Myers
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Myers home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,807, 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 Fort Myers' effective rate of 0.76%, 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 7 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 Myers
Fort Myers runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Myers.
Who works in Fort Myers, and how
Work in Fort Myers centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fort Myers
Fort Myers has less parkland per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fort Myers and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fort Myers growing, and who is moving in?
Fort Myers has grown about 27% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Miami, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fort Myers go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fort Myers, month by month
Fort Myers sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 76, with lows near 53. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| April | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 88° | 78° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Fort Myers
Southwest Florida International sits about 6 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.5 million passengers in 2025, with 103 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Fort Myers
Schools across Fort Myers average a B−, better than 64% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- The Sanibel SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Pinewoods Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Fort Myers Beach Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oasis Charter Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Trafalgar Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Gulf Middle SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Florida Southwestern Collegiate High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Oasis Charter High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- North Fort Myers High SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Myers school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Myers 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 Myers against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Fort Myers suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 73% of metro areas and it is quieter than 66%.
Common questions about living in Fort Myers
Is Fort Myers a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Myers ranks 251st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on empty homes and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Myers expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $380,919. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $81,807 median income, cost of living beats 50% of metro areas.
Is Fort Myers safe?
Yes, Fort Myers is safer than 80% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fort Myers?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 76 with lows near 53. That works out to about 119 pleasant days a year, more than 73% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fort Myers?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are San Carlos Park, Cypress Lake & Villas, Cape Coral, and Iona & Sanibel. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fort Myers good for families?
Schools beat 64% of metro areas, crime safety beats 80%, and childcare runs $820 a month.
Is Fort Myers good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 50% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 83% of metro areas. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fort Myers with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Myers. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Myers 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 Myers detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Myers: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Myers: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Myers: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Myers: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Myers 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.