Best PlacesJacksonville Beach, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Jacksonville Beach, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Jacksonville Beach ranks 420th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Jacksonville Beach
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.
Jacksonville Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Jacksonville Beach ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of cities
Where Jacksonville Beach ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- School gradeC, better than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Jacksonville Beach
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jacksonville Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $124,430, 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 Jacksonville Beach's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Jacksonville Beach
Jacksonville Beach 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 Jacksonville Beach.
Who works in Jacksonville Beach, and how
Work in Jacksonville Beach centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Jacksonville Beach
Jacksonville Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 2 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jacksonville Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Jacksonville Beach, month by month
Jacksonville Beach sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| April | 82° | 70° | 58° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 84° | 73° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Jacksonville Beach
Jacksonville International sits about 22 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 Jacksonville Beach
Schools across Jacksonville Beach average a C, better than 24% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jacksonville Beach Elementary SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Ponte Vedra Palm Valley- Rawlings Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- San Pablo Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Alice B. Landrum Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Duncan U. Fletcher Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Kernan Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Ponte Vedra High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Atlantic Coast High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jacksonville Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jacksonville Beach 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 Jacksonville Beach against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Jacksonville Beach suits
Families
Schools land around the 24th percentile and crime safety beats 91%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 26% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 70% of cities and health care access beats 68%.
Common questions about living in Jacksonville Beach
Is Jacksonville Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jacksonville Beach ranks 420th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and cell coverage, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jacksonville Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $620,727. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $124,430 median income, cost of living beats 85% of cities.
Is Jacksonville Beach safe?
Yes, Jacksonville Beach is safer than 91% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $129 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jacksonville Beach?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 44. That works out to about 120 pleasant days a year, more than 70% of cities.
Is Jacksonville Beach good for families?
Schools beat 24% of cities, crime safety beats 91%, and childcare runs $923 a month.
Compare Jacksonville Beach with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jacksonville Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jacksonville Beach 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.
Jacksonville Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jacksonville Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jacksonville Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jacksonville Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jacksonville Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jacksonville Beach 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.