Best PlacesHighland City, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Highland City, 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.
Highland City ranks 5,505th 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 Highland 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.
Highland City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Highland City ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Highland City ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Highland City
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Highland City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,905, 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 Highland City's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Highland City
Highland City's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Highland City.
Who works in Highland City, and how
Work in Highland City 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 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Highland City
The coast is about 41 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Highland City, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Highland City, month by month
Highland City 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 Highland City
Tampa International sits about 39 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 Highland City
Schools across Highland City average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Valleyview Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Highlands Grove Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Highland City Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lakeland Highlands Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Bartow Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Crystal Lake Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- George W. Jenkins Senior HighB− · 43% proficient
- Bartow Senior High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Lake Region High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Highland City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Highland 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 Highland City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Highland City
Is Highland City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Highland City ranks 5,505th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, fast internet, and low taxes, 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 Highland City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $337,070. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $96,905 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Highland City safe?
Yes, Highland City is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $112 per resident a year.
Compare Highland City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Highland City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Highland 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.
Highland City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Highland City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Highland City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Highland City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Highland City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Highland 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.