Best PlacesLake County, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lake County, 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.
Lake County ranks 672nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low crime. The cost shows up in summer heat, car insurance costs, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Lake County
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 Lake County
The parts of Lake County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Four Corners
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and heat risk is lower.
Clermont & Minneola
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Mount Dora & Sorrento
Homes cost more and it is noisier.
Eustis & Umatilla
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Lady Lake & Fruitland Park
Commutes are shorter, though health outcomes score lower.
Mascotte
Crime runs higher and biking is worse.
Tavares
Scores close to Mascotte, except that health care is easier to reach here.
Grand Island
Streets are more car-dependent.
Leesburg
Schools score lower.
Lake County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lake County's strengths and weaknesses
Lake County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Low crime and low taxes follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Lake County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 94% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
Where Lake County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Short commute30.2 minutes each way, better than only 15% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lake County
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $78,637; 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 Lake County'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 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 Lake County
Lake County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake County.
Who works in Lake County, and how
Work in Lake County 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 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lake County
Lake County has less parkland per resident than most counties and less late-night activity than most counties. The coast is about 67 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lake County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lake County growing, and who is moving in?
Lake County has grown about 41% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Orlando, FL metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lake County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lake County, month by month
Lake County sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 48. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| April | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 87° | 76° | 67° |
Flying in and out of Lake County
The nearest airport, Orlando Sanford International, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake County
Schools across Lake County average a B, better than 71% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Pinecrest Lakes AcademyA+ · 78% proficient
- Cypress Ridge Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Imagine Schools At South LakeA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Ridge Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Wolf Lake MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Windy Hill Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Pinecrest Lakes Middle/high AcademyA · 70% proficient
- East Ridge High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Lake Minneola High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake County 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 County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lake County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Lake County
Is Lake County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake County ranks 672nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and low taxes, and lowest on summer heat and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,209. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $78,637 median income, cost of living beats 78% of counties.
Is Lake County safe?
Yes, Lake County is safer than 98% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $130 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lake County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 48. That works out to about 131 pleasant days a year, more than 82% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lake County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Four Corners, Clermont & Minneola, and Mount Dora & Sorrento. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lake County good for families?
Schools beat 71% of counties, crime safety beats 98%, and childcare runs $857 a month.
Is Lake County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 64% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lake County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake County 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 County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake County 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.