Best PlacesLongboat Key, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Longboat Key, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Longboat Key ranks 2,306th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Longboat 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.
Longboat Key's strengths and weaknesses
Where Longboat Key ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$156,416 median, better than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
Where Longboat Key ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Longboat Key
A household needs to earn about $276,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Longboat Key home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $156,416, 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 Longboat Key's effective rate of 0.81%, 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 Longboat Key
Longboat 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 Longboat Key.
Who works in Longboat Key, and how
Work in Longboat Key centers on professional & technical and real estate. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 36%
- Work from home 48%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Longboat Key
Longboat Key has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. The coast is about 0 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Longboat Key and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Longboat Key, month by month
Longboat Key sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 74, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74° | 62° | 51° |
| April | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| July | 92° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 88° | 77° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Longboat Key
The nearest airport, Sarasota/Bradenton International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Longboat Key
Schools across Longboat Key average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southside Elementary SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Anna Maria Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Sea Breeze Elementary SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Booker Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Martha B. King Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- W. D. Sugg Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Booker High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Bayshore High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Longboat Key school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Longboat 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 Longboat Key against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Longboat Key
Is Longboat Key a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Longboat Key ranks 2,306th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and state infrastructure, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Longboat Key expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,055,718. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $156,416 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Longboat Key safe?
Yes, Longboat Key is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.
Compare Longboat Key with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Longboat Key. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Longboat 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.
Longboat Key detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Longboat Key: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Longboat Key: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Longboat Key: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Longboat Key: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Longboat 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.