Best PlacesKendall West, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kendall West, 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.
Kendall West ranks 1,776th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Kendall West
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.
Kendall West's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kendall West ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of cities
- QuietBetter than 86% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 86% of cities
Where Kendall West ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of cities
- Short commute35.6 minutes each way, better than only 5% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Kendall West
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kendall West home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,378, 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 Kendall West's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Kendall West
Kendall West runs older than the country, 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 Kendall West.
Who works in Kendall West, and how
Work in Kendall West centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kendall West
Kendall West has more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 18 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Kendall West and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kendall West, month by month
Kendall West sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 79, with lows near 57. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 79° | 67° | 57° |
| April | 87° | 77° | 66° |
| July | 93° | 84° | 76° |
| October | 88° | 79° | 72° |
Flying in and out of Kendall West
Miami International sits about 11 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.2 million passengers in 2025, with 233 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Kendall West
Schools across Kendall West average a B+, better than 74% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Kendale Lakes Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Jane S. Roberts K-8 CenterA · 63% proficient
- Dante B. Fascell Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lamar Louise Curry Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Hammocks Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- John A. Ferguson Senior HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Felix Varela Senior High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kendall West school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kendall West 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 Kendall West against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Kendall West suits
Common questions about living in Kendall West
Is Kendall West a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kendall West ranks 1,776th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and walkability, and lowest on car insurance costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kendall West expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $389,258. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $74,378 median income, cost of living beats 10% of cities.
Is Kendall West safe?
Kendall West is safer than 19% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kendall West?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 79 with lows near 57. That works out to about 91 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of cities.
Is Kendall West good for families?
Schools beat 74% of cities, crime safety beats 19%, and childcare runs $844 a month.
Compare Kendall West with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kendall West. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kendall West 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.
Kendall West detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kendall West: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kendall West: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kendall West: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kendall West: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kendall West 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.