Best PlacesLares, PR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lares, 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.
Lares is unranked among cities under the default weighting. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lares
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.
Lares' strengths and weaknesses
Where Lares ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Cheap childcare$380 a month, better than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- QuietBetter than 94% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of cities
Where Lares ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$19,954 median, better than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lares
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lares home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $19,954, 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 Lares' effective rate of 0.02%, 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 Lares
Lares runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lares.
Who works in Lares, and how
Work in Lares centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Lares
Lares has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of cities. The coast is about 25 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Lares and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lares, month by month
Lares sees roughly 53 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 82, with lows near 70. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 82° | 77° | 70° |
| April | 83° | 79° | 72° |
| July | 88° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 87° | 81° | 74° |
Flying in and out of Lares
The nearest airport, Eugenio Maria De Hostos, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Luis Munoz Marin International, about 58 miles away.
Lares 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 Lares against cities nationally.
Who Lares suits
Families
Weigh schools and safety yourself on the map to find the right neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Lares
Is Lares a good place to live?
It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and clean air, and lowest on taxes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lares expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $116,508. Set against a $19,954 median income, cost of living beats 50% of cities.
Is Lares safe?
Lares is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $728 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lares?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 82 with lows near 70. That works out to about 53 pleasant days a year, more than 1% of cities.
Compare Lares with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lares. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lares 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.
Lares detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lares: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lares: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lares: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lares: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lares 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.