Best PlacesManasota Key, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Manasota 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.
Manasota Key ranks 4,076th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Manasota 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.
Manasota Key's strengths and weaknesses
Where Manasota Key ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
Where Manasota Key ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Manasota Key
A household needs to earn about $154,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Manasota Key home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $123,750, 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 Manasota Key's effective rate of 1.04%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Manasota Key
Manasota 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 Manasota Key.
Who works in Manasota Key, and how
Work in Manasota Key centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 58%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Manasota Key
The coast is about 2 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Manasota Key, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Manasota Key, month by month
Manasota Key sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 56. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 63° | 56° |
| April | 82° | 75° | 67° |
| July | 91° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 87° | 79° | 72° |
Flying in and out of Manasota Key
The nearest airport, Punta Gorda, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Southwest Florida International, about 44 miles away.
The best schools in and around Manasota Key
Schools across Manasota Key average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vineland Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Englewood Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- L. A. Ainger Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Lemon Bay High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Manasota Key school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Manasota 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 Manasota Key against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Manasota Key
Is Manasota Key a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Manasota Key ranks 4,076th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, 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 Manasota Key expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $571,800. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $123,750 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Manasota Key safe?
Yes, Manasota Key is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $147 per resident a year.
Compare Manasota Key with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Manasota Key. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Manasota 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.
Manasota Key detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Manasota Key: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Manasota Key: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Manasota Key: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Manasota Key: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Manasota 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.