Best PlacesLake Buena Vista, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Buena Vista, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake Buena Vista ranks 14,022nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Buena Vista
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.
Lake Buena Vista's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Buena Vista ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
Where Lake Buena Vista ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Buena Vista
A household needs to earn about $195,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Buena Vista home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,504, 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 Lake Buena Vista's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Lake Buena Vista
Lake Buena Vista runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake Buena Vista.
Who works in Lake Buena Vista, and how
Work in Lake Buena Vista centers on arts & entertainment and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Lake Buena Vista
Lake Buena Vista has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lake Buena Vista and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lake Buena Vista, month by month
Lake Buena Vista sees roughly 140 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 73, with lows near 50. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| April | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 86° | 77° | 69° |
Flying in and out of Lake Buena Vista
Orlando International sits about 14 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 28.1 million passengers in 2025, with 223 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lake Buena Vista
Schools across Lake Buena Vista average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sand Lake ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bridgewater MiddleA · 67% proficient
- Southwest MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- West Orange HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Dr. Phillips HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Buena Vista school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Buena Vista 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 Lake Buena Vista against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Buena Vista
Is Lake Buena Vista a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Buena Vista ranks 14,022nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, state infrastructure, and population health, and lowest on a weak job market and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Buena Vista expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $764,973. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $68,504 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Lake Buena Vista safe?
Lake Buena Vista is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $221 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Buena Vista with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Buena Vista. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Buena Vista 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.
Lake Buena Vista detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Buena Vista: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Buena Vista: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Buena Vista: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Buena Vista: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Buena Vista 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.