Best PlacesMarion County, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Marion County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Marion County ranks 1,527th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low crime. The cost shows up in summer heat, car insurance costs, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Marion 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 Marion County
The parts of Marion 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.
Dunnellon
Fewer homes sit empty, crime runs lower, and more residents vote.
Silver Springs Shores & Ocklawaha
More households have young kids and heat risk is lower.
Summerfield, Belleview & The Villages
It is quieter, though tree cover is thinner.
Reddick
Biking is worse.
Ocala
Local pay stretches less far and prices have run up more.
Fort Mc Coy, Silver Springs & Lynne
Homes cost less, though commutes are longer.
Marion County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Marion County's strengths and weaknesses
Marion County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Low crime and low taxes follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Marion County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of counties
- TransitBetter than 83% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of counties
Where Marion County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Marion County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marion County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $64,764; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Marion County's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Marion County
Marion County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Marion County.
Who works in Marion County, and how
Work in Marion County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Marion County
Marion County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 68 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Marion County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Marion County growing, and who is moving in?
Marion County has grown about 27% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Orlando, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Marion County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Marion County, month by month
Marion County sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 56° | 45° |
| April | 84° | 71° | 58° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 85° | 73° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Marion County
The nearest airport, Gainesville Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Marion County
Schools across Marion County average a B−, better than 60% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Madison Street Academy Of Visual And Performing ArtsA+ · 80% proficient
- Dr N H Jones Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Eighth Street Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Osceola Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Belleview Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Howard Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Forest High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- West Port High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Belleview High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marion County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marion 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 Marion County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Marion County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Marion County
Is Marion County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marion County ranks 1,527th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and low taxes, 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 Marion County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $252,491. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,764 median income, cost of living beats 44% of counties.
Is Marion County safe?
Yes, Marion County is safer than 95% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Marion County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 70 with lows near 45. That works out to about 126 pleasant days a year, more than 79% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Marion County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Dunnellon, Silver Springs Shores & Ocklawaha, and Summerfield, Belleview & The Villages. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Marion County good for families?
Schools beat 60% of counties, crime safety beats 95%, and childcare runs $775 a month.
Is Marion County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 44% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 77% of counties. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Marion County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marion County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marion 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.
Marion County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marion County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marion County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marion County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marion County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marion 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.