Best PlacesLong Key, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Long Key, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Long Key ranks 25,061st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Long Key
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.
Long Key's strengths and weaknesses
Where Long Key ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.6 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 91% of towns
Where Long Key ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Long Key
A household needs to earn about $177,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Long Key home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,361, 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 Long Key's effective rate of 0.54%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Long Key
Long Key runs older 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 Long Key.
Who works in Long Key, and how
Work in Long Key centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Long Key
The coast is about 0 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Long Key, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Long Key, month by month
Long Key sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 78, with lows near 64. The comfortable stretch runs December through February.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78° | 70° | 64° |
| April | 86° | 79° | 74° |
| July | 92° | 86° | 80° |
| October | 88° | 81° | 76° |
Flying in and out of Long Key
The nearest airport, Key West International, is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Miami International, about 77 miles away.
The best schools in and around Long Key
Schools across Long Key average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Treasure Village Montessori Charter SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Plantation Key SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Stanley Switlik Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Coral Shores High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Marathon SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Long Key school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Long Key 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 Long Key against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Long Key
Is Long Key a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Long Key ranks 25,061st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and short commutes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Long Key expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $703,100. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $87,361 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Long Key safe?
Long Key is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $244 per resident a year.
Compare Long Key with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Long Key. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Long Key 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.
Long Key detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Long Key: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Long Key: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Long Key: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Long Key: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Long Key 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.