Best PlacesMary Esther, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mary Esther, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mary Esther ranks 16,754th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mary Esther
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.
Mary Esther's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mary Esther ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Mary Esther ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mary Esther
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mary Esther home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $81,224; 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 Mary Esther's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mary Esther
Mary Esther runs younger 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 Mary Esther.
Who works in Mary Esther, and how
Work in Mary Esther centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Mary Esther
Mary Esther has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 9 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mary Esther and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mary Esther, month by month
Mary Esther sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 53° | 44° |
| April | 76° | 68° | 58° |
| July | 90° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 81° | 71° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Mary Esther
The nearest airport, Eglin AFB/Destin-Ft Walton Beach, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 213 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mary Esther
Schools across Mary Esther average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Florosa Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Mary Esther Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Elliott Point Elementary SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Holley-navarre Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Max Bruner Junior Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Walton Beach High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Navarre High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mary Esther school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mary Esther 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 Mary Esther against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mary Esther
Is Mary Esther a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mary Esther ranks 16,754th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and population health, and lowest on disaster risk 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 Mary Esther expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $321,509. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $81,224 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Mary Esther safe?
Yes, Mary Esther is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $172 per resident a year.
Compare Mary Esther with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mary Esther. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mary Esther 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.
Mary Esther detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mary Esther: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mary Esther: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mary Esther: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mary Esther: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mary Esther 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.