Best PlacesInverness, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Inverness, 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.
Inverness ranks 34,519th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Inverness
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.
Inverness' strengths and weaknesses
Where Inverness ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Inverness ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$59,360 median, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Inverness
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Inverness home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $59,360; 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 Inverness' effective rate of 0.56%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Inverness
Inverness 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 Inverness.
Who works in Inverness, and how
Work in Inverness centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Inverness
Inverness has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 44 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Inverness and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Inverness, month by month
Inverness sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs October through May.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 56° | 45° |
| April | 83° | 70° | 58° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 84° | 73° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Inverness
The nearest airport, Gainesville Regional, is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Inverness
Schools across Inverness average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Panasoffkee Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Pleasant Grove Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Lecanto Primary SchoolB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Sumter Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Citrus Springs Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Lecanto Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Lecanto High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Citrus High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- South Sumter High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Inverness school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Inverness 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 Inverness against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Inverness suits
Retirees
The weather beats 87% of towns and health care access beats 58%.
Common questions about living in Inverness
Is Inverness a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Inverness ranks 34,519th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and biking, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Inverness expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $242,989. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $59,360 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Inverness safe?
Yes, Inverness is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $169 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Inverness?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 45. That works out to about 134 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of towns.
Is Inverness good for families?
Schools beat 71% of towns, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $715 a month.
Compare Inverness with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Inverness. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Inverness 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.
Inverness detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Inverness: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Inverness: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Inverness: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Inverness: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Inverness 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.