Best PlacesMargate, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Margate, 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.
Margate ranks 1,720th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Margate
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.
Margate's strengths and weaknesses
Where Margate ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- TransitBetter than 88% of cities
- BikingBetter than 84% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of cities
Where Margate ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Margate
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Margate home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,081, 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 Margate's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Margate
Margate runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Margate.
Who works in Margate, and how
Work in Margate centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Margate
Margate has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Margate and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Margate, month by month
Margate sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 79, with lows near 59. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 79° | 68° | 59° |
| April | 86° | 77° | 69° |
| July | 92° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 88° | 80° | 73° |
Flying in and out of Margate
The nearest airport, Fort Lauderdale Exec, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International, about 13 miles away.
The best schools in and around Margate
Schools across Margate average a B, better than 58% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Renaissance Charter School At Coral SpringsA− · 58% proficient
- Rise Academy School Of Science And TechnologyB+ · 55% proficient
- Winston Park Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lyons Creek Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Forest Glen Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Nova Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Monarch High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Margate school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Margate 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 Margate against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Margate suits
Common questions about living in Margate
Is Margate a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Margate ranks 1,720th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and transit, and lowest on summer heat and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Margate expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $321,594. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $74,081 median income, cost of living beats 23% of cities.
Is Margate safe?
Margate is safer than 16% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Margate?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 79 with lows near 59. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 45% of cities.
Is Margate good for families?
Schools beat 58% of cities, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $969 a month.
Compare Margate with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Margate. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Margate 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.
Margate detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Margate: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Margate: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Margate: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Margate: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Margate 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.