Best PlacesMiami Beach, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Miami Beach, 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.
Miami Beach ranks 969th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Miami Beach
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 Miami Beach
The parts of Miami Beach, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Nautilus
West Avenue, Venetian Islands & Bayshore
Oceanfront
Flamingo-Lummus & South of Fifth
City Center
Miami Beach shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 11% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Miami Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Miami Beach ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 97% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
Where Miami Beach ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Miami Beach
A household needs to earn about $222,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Miami Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,634, 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 Miami Beach's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 Miami Beach
Miami Beach 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 Miami Beach.
Who works in Miami Beach, and how
Work in Miami Beach centers on professional & technical and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 46%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 23%
Life in Miami Beach
Miami Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Miami Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Miami Beach, month by month
Miami Beach sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 79, with lows near 60. The comfortable stretch runs December through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 79° | 69° | 60° |
| April | 86° | 78° | 70° |
| July | 92° | 85° | 78° |
| October | 88° | 81° | 75° |
Flying in and out of Miami Beach
Miami International sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.2 million passengers in 2025, with 233 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Miami Beach
Schools across Miami Beach average an A−, better than 80% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- North Beach Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Key Biscayne K-8 CenterA+ · 73% proficient
- Miami Beach South Pointe Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Miami Beach Nautilus Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Ponce De Leon Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Jose De Diego Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Miami Beach Senior High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Booker T. Washington Senior HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Miami Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Miami Beach 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 Miami Beach against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Miami Beach suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Miami Beach
Is Miami Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Miami Beach ranks 969th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, and lowest on empty homes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Miami Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $840,942. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $108,634 median income, cost of living beats 39% of cities.
Is Miami Beach safe?
Miami Beach is safer than 4% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Miami Beach?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 79 with lows near 60. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Miami Beach?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Nautilus, West Avenue, Venetian Islands & Bayshore, and Oceanfront. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Miami Beach with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Miami Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Miami Beach 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.
Miami Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Miami Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Miami Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Miami Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Miami Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Miami Beach 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.