Best PlacesJacksonville, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Jacksonville metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by “Jon Zander ( Digon3 )”, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Jacksonville ranks 109th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 23 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in car insurance costs, summer heat, and long commutes.
The best neighborhoods in the Jacksonville metro
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 Jacksonville
The towns and districts of the Jacksonville metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & World Golf Village
Schools score higher, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Fruit Cove & Green Cove Springs
More adults hold degrees and crime runs lower.
Jacksonville Beach & Palm Valley
Fewer households have young kids and homes cost more.
Fernandina Beach & Atlantic Beach
It is quieter and health care is easier to reach.
Middleburg, Oakleaf Plantation & Lakeside
Prices have run up less, though biking is worse.
Downtown Jacksonville
Fewer residents vote.
Callahan & Hilliard
Tree cover is thicker, though health outcomes score lower.
Yulee
Streets are more walkable, though more homes sit empty.
Jacksonville shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Jacksonville's strengths and weaknesses
Jacksonville lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Low taxes and what local pay buys follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Car insurance costs, summer heat, and long commutes hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Jacksonville to another than it does between Jacksonville and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Jacksonville ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 83% of metro areas
Where Jacksonville ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- Short commute25.9 minutes each way, better than only 20% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 22% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 31% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Jacksonville
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jacksonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $88,406; 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 Jacksonville's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Jacksonville
Jacksonville's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Jacksonville.
Who works in Jacksonville, and how
Work in Jacksonville centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Jacksonville
The coast is about 23 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Jacksonville, which the map shows.
Is Jacksonville growing, and who is moving in?
Jacksonville has grown about 24% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Miami, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Jacksonville go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jacksonville, month by month
Jacksonville sees roughly 121 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 Jacksonville
Jacksonville International sits about 14 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
Schools across Jacksonville average a B−, better than 67% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Jacksonville Beach Elementary SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Orange Park Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Ponte Vedra Palm Valley- Rawlings Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Julia Landon College Preparatory & Leadership Development ScA+ · 85% proficient
- Alice B. Landrum Middle SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- James Weldon Johnson College Prepartory Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Ponte Vedra High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Creekside High SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Stanton College PreparatoryA+ · 84% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jacksonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jacksonville 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 against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Jacksonville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Jacksonville
Is Jacksonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jacksonville ranks 109th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on car insurance costs and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jacksonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $358,595. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $88,406 median income, cost of living beats 90% of metro areas.
Is Jacksonville safe?
Yes, Jacksonville is safer than 74% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $187 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jacksonville?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 42. That works out to about 121 pleasant days a year, more than 74% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jacksonville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & World Golf Village, Fruit Cove & Green Cove Springs, and Jacksonville Beach & Palm Valley. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Jacksonville good for families?
Schools beat 67% of metro areas, crime safety beats 74%, and childcare runs $951 a month.
Is Jacksonville good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of metro areas. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Jacksonville with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jacksonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jacksonville 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jacksonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jacksonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jacksonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jacksonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jacksonville 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.