Best PlacesHaines City, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Haines City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Haines City ranks 1,853rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Haines City
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 Haines City
The parts of Haines City, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Stonewood Crossings
Kokomo Bay
Live Oak
Scores across Haines City run from about the 6th to the 44th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Haines City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Haines City ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- QuietBetter than 86% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of cities
Where Haines City ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Short commute35.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of cities
- Household income$61,022 median, better than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Haines City
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Haines City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $61,022; 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 Haines City's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Haines City
Haines City runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Haines City.
Who works in Haines City, and how
Work in Haines City centers on construction and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Haines City
Haines City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Haines City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Haines City, month by month
Haines City sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 74, with lows near 50. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| April | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 89° | 78° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Haines City
Orlando International sits about 29 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 28.1 million passengers in 2025, with 223 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Haines City
Schools across Haines City average a C, better than 24% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Bethune AcademyB · 49% proficient
- Lake Alfred Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Loughman Oaks Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lake Alfred Polytech AcademyB− · 41% proficient
- Daniel Jenkins Academy Of Technology Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Shelley S. Boone Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Auburndale Senior High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Haines City Senior High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Ridge Community High SchoolC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Haines City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Haines City 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 Haines City against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Haines City suits
Families
Schools land around the 24th percentile and crime safety beats 60%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Haines City
Is Haines City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Haines City ranks 1,853rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, a strong job market, and low taxes, and lowest on empty homes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Haines City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $258,152. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $61,022 median income, cost of living beats 13% of cities.
Is Haines City safe?
Yes, Haines City is safer than 60% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $197 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Haines City?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 74 with lows near 50. That works out to about 128 pleasant days a year, more than 73% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Haines City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Stonewood Crossings, Kokomo Bay, and Live Oak. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Haines City with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Haines City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Haines City 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.
Haines City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Haines City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Haines City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Haines City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Haines City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Haines City 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.