Best PlacesLake Worth, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Worth, 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 Worth ranks 365th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in disaster risk, car insurance costs, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Worth
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 Worth
The parts of Lake Worth, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Lake Charleston, Smith Dairy West & Winston Trails
Local pay stretches further, more adults hold degrees, and incomes run higher.
Fountains of Palm Beach, Wycliffe & Lucerne Lakes
More residents vote, though streets are more car-dependent.
Barclay at Poinciana Place, Palm Beach Ranchettes & Gardens of Willow Bend
Fewer households have young kids and heat risk is higher.
Hypoluxo Haverhill, Worthington & Freedom Village Lakeside
Prices have run up less.
Lake Worth Heights & North Lake Worth
Biking is better, though crime runs higher.
Kenwood, Lago Lucerne & Lake Echo
Health care is harder to reach and schools score lower.
Emerald Lake-Miami
It is noisier and more homes sit empty.
Scores across Lake Worth run from about the 4th to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lake Worth's strengths and weaknesses
Lake Worth ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. State infrastructure, low taxes, and clean air carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: disaster risk, car insurance costs, and summer heat all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Lake Worth ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 67% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 66% of cities
Where Lake Worth ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 17% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Worth
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Worth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,644, 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 Worth's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Lake Worth
Lake Worth's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Lake Worth.
Who works in Lake Worth, and how
Work in Lake Worth centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lake Worth
Lake Worth has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. The coast is about 8 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lake Worth and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lake Worth, month by month
Lake Worth sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 78, with lows near 57. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78° | 67° | 57° |
| April | 85° | 76° | 68° |
| July | 92° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 87° | 80° | 73° |
Flying in and out of Lake Worth
Palm Beach International sits about 6 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lake Worth
Schools across Lake Worth average a B−, better than 62% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Equestrian Trails ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
- Sunset Palms Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Manatee Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wellington Landings MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Polo Park Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Christa Mcauliffe Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Wellington High SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Olympic Heights Community HighA− · 62% proficient
- Park Vista Community High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Worth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Worth 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 Worth against the other 444 cities.
Who Lake Worth suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lake Worth
Is Lake Worth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Worth ranks 365th of 445 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and clean air, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Worth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $405,078. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $83,644 median income, cost of living beats 35% of cities.
Is Lake Worth safe?
Lake Worth is safer than 41% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lake Worth?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 78 with lows near 57. That works out to about 89 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lake Worth?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lake Charleston, Smith Dairy West & Winston Trails, Fountains of Palm Beach, Wycliffe & Lucerne Lakes, and Barclay at Poinciana Place, Palm Beach Ranchettes & Gardens of Willow Bend. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lake Worth good for families?
Schools beat 62% of cities, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,238 a month.
Is Lake Worth good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 35% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 48% of cities. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lake Worth with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Worth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Worth 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 Worth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Worth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Worth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Worth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Worth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Worth 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.