Best PlacesGulf Stream, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gulf Stream, 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.
Gulf Stream ranks 8,111th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gulf Stream
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.
Gulf Stream's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gulf Stream ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$198,501 median, better than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
Where Gulf Stream ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gulf Stream
A household needs to earn about $472,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gulf Stream home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $198,501, 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 Gulf Stream's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 Gulf Stream
Gulf Stream runs older 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 Gulf Stream.
Who works in Gulf Stream, and how
Work in Gulf Stream centers on finance & insurance and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Gulf Stream
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Gulf Stream, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gulf Stream, month by month
Gulf Stream sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 76, with lows near 62. The comfortable stretch runs December through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 76° | 70° | 62° |
| April | 84° | 78° | 71° |
| July | 92° | 86° | 79° |
| October | 86° | 81° | 76° |
Flying in and out of Gulf Stream
Palm Beach International sits about 13 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Gulf Stream
Schools across Gulf Stream average a B−, better than 51% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Congress Community Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Atlantic High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Boynton Beach Community HighC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gulf Stream school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gulf Stream 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 Gulf Stream against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gulf Stream
Is Gulf Stream a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gulf Stream ranks 8,111th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, high incomes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on an overheated housing market 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 Gulf Stream expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,803,282. The overall cost of living runs about 52% above the national average. Set against a $198,501 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Gulf Stream safe?
Gulf Stream is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $271 per resident a year.
Compare Gulf Stream with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gulf Stream. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gulf Stream 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.
Gulf Stream detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gulf Stream: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gulf Stream: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gulf Stream: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gulf Stream: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gulf Stream 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.