Best PlacesLeon County, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Leon County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Leon County ranks 655th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on state infrastructure and an educated workforce. The weaker spots are car insurance costs, disaster risk, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Leon 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 Leon County
The parts of Leon 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.
Miccosukee Cpo
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Wakulla Springs & Woodville
Biking is better, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Tallahassee
Prices have run up more and more homes sit empty.
Leon County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Leon County's strengths and weaknesses
Leon 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. An educated workforce and transit follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Car insurance costs, disaster risk, and air quality hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Leon County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of counties
- TransitBetter than 95% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of counties
- BikingBetter than 94% of counties
Where Leon County ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 31% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Leon County
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Leon County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,576, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Leon County's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Leon County
Leon County runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Leon County.
Who works in Leon County, and how
Work in Leon County centers on education and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Leon County
Leon County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of counties and more parkland per resident than 76% of counties. The coast is about 50 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Leon County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Leon County growing, and who is moving in?
Leon County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Miami, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Leon County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Leon County, month by month
Leon County sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 53° | 40° |
| April | 83° | 69° | 54° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Leon County
The nearest airport, Tallahassee International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Leon County
Schools across Leon County average a B−, better than 70% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hawks Rise Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Desoto Trail Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Gilchrist Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
Top middle schools
- Deerlake Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- William J Montford Iii Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Swift Creek Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Lawton Chiles High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Leon High SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- SailB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Leon County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Leon 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 Leon County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Leon County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Leon County
Is Leon County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Leon County ranks 655th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, an educated workforce, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Leon County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,389. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $77,576 median income, cost of living beats 74% of counties.
Is Leon County safe?
Yes, Leon County is safer than 66% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $202 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Leon County?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 40. That works out to about 91 pleasant days a year, more than 53% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Leon County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Miccosukee Cpo, Wakulla Springs & Woodville, and Tallahassee. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Leon County good for families?
Schools beat 70% of counties, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $785 a month.
Is Leon County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 90% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Leon County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Leon County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Leon 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.
Leon County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Leon County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Leon County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Leon County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Leon County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Leon 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.