Best PlacesLehigh Acres, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lehigh Acres, 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.
Lehigh Acres ranks 410th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 34 minutes away. Its strengths are a strong job market and state infrastructure. The cost shows up in walkability, long commutes, and disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Lehigh Acres
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 Lehigh Acres
The parts of Lehigh Acres, 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.
Harris & Centennial
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and heat risk is lower.
Sunshine
More households have young kids, though health care is harder to reach.
Richmond
Biking is better, though more homes sit empty.
Scores across Lehigh Acres run from about the 6th to the 56th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lehigh Acres' strengths and weaknesses
Lehigh Acres ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. A strong job market is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. State infrastructure and low taxes follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: walkability, long commutes, and disaster risk all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Lehigh Acres ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- QuietBetter than 93% of cities
- Cheap childcare$820 a month, better than 82% of cities
Where Lehigh Acres ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 1% of cities
- Short commute38.2 minutes each way, better than only 2% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lehigh Acres
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lehigh Acres home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $70,613; 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 Lehigh Acres' effective rate of 0.72%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lehigh Acres
Lehigh Acres runs younger than the country, 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 Lehigh Acres.
Who works in Lehigh Acres, and how
Work in Lehigh Acres centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lehigh Acres
Lehigh Acres has more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 34 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Lehigh Acres and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lehigh Acres, month by month
Lehigh Acres sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 76, with lows near 53. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| April | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 88° | 78° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Lehigh Acres
Southwest Florida International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.5 million passengers in 2025, with 103 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lehigh Acres
Schools across Lehigh Acres average a C+, better than 37% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mirror Lakes Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Veterans Park Academy For The ArtsB− · 41% proficient
- Tortuga Preserve Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Labelle Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Varsity Lakes Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Lehigh Acres Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Labelle High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Lehigh Senior High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Dunbar High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lehigh Acres school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lehigh Acres 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 Lehigh Acres against the other 444 cities.
Who Lehigh Acres suits
Families
Schools land around the 37th percentile and crime safety beats 81%.
Common questions about living in Lehigh Acres
Is Lehigh Acres a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lehigh Acres ranks 410th of 445 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, state infrastructure, and low taxes, and lowest on walkability and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lehigh Acres expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $297,665. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $70,613 median income, cost of living beats 17% of cities.
Is Lehigh Acres safe?
Yes, Lehigh Acres is safer than 81% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lehigh Acres?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 76 with lows near 53. That works out to about 128 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lehigh Acres?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Harris & Centennial, Sunshine, and Richmond. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lehigh Acres good for families?
Schools beat 37% of cities, crime safety beats 81%, and childcare runs $820 a month.
Is Lehigh Acres good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 17% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 17% of cities. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lehigh Acres with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lehigh Acres. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lehigh Acres 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.
Lehigh Acres detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lehigh Acres: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lehigh Acres: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lehigh Acres: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lehigh Acres: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lehigh Acres 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.