Best PlacesKey West, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Key West, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Key West ranks 1,342nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Key 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.
Key West's strengths and weaknesses
Where Key West ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Short commute15.7 minutes each way, better than 98% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
Where Key West ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Key West
A household needs to earn about $207,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Key West home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,829, 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 Key West's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Key West
Key West 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 Key West.
Who works in Key West, and how
Work in Key West centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Key West
Key West has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Key West and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Key West, month by month
Key West sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 77, with lows near 65. The comfortable stretch runs December through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 77° | 70° | 65° |
| April | 84° | 78° | 73° |
| July | 91° | 86° | 81° |
| October | 87° | 82° | 77° |
Flying in and out of Key West
The nearest airport, Key West International, is about 1 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Miami International, about 125 miles away.
The best schools in and around Key West
Schools across Key West average a B−, better than 52% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sigsbee Charter SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Poinciana Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- May Sands Montessori SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Miami Community Charter Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Key West High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Somerset Island PrepB+ · 53% proficient
- Keys CenterD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Key West school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Key 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 Key West against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Key West suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Key West
Is Key West a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Key West ranks 1,342nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, biking, and short commutes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Key West expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $825,282. The overall cost of living runs about 23% above the national average. Set against a $91,829 median income, cost of living beats 26% of cities.
Is Key West safe?
Key West is safer than 25% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Key West?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 77 with lows near 65. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of cities.
Is Key West good for families?
Schools beat 52% of cities, crime safety beats 25%, and childcare runs $892 a month.
Compare Key West with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Key West. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Key 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.
Key West detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Key West: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Key West: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Key West: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Key West: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Key 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.