Best PlacesHero, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hero, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hero ranks 10,749th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hero
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.
Hero's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hero ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 90% of towns
Where Hero ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 17% of towns
- Short commute33.0 minutes each way, better than only 20% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hero
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hero home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $91,623; 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 Hero's 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hero
Hero's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Hero.
Who works in Hero, and how
Work in Hero centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hero
The coast is about 22 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hero, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hero, month by month
Hero sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 54° | 42° |
| April | 83° | 69° | 56° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Hero
Jacksonville International sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.7 million passengers in 2025, with 86 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hero
Schools across Hero average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wildlight ElementaryA+ · 82% proficient
Top middle schools
- Callahan Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Yulee Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Yulee High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- West Nassau County High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hero school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hero 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 Hero against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hero
Is Hero a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hero ranks 10,749th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on car insurance costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hero expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $375,582. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $91,623 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Hero safe?
Yes, Hero is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $159 per resident a year.
Compare Hero with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hero. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hero 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.
Hero detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hero: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hero: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hero: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hero: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hero 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.