Best PlacesNiceville, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Niceville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Niceville ranks 427th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Niceville
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 Niceville
The parts of Niceville, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Parkwood Estates
Rocky Bayou
Marina Cove Village
Blue Pine Village, Woodlands & Saint Andrews Village
Cedar Ridge North
Scores across Niceville run from about the 47th to the 96th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Niceville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Niceville ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of cities
Where Niceville ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 5% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 19% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Niceville
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Niceville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,515, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Niceville's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Niceville
Niceville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Niceville.
Who works in Niceville, and how
Work in Niceville centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Niceville
Niceville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 16 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Niceville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Niceville, month by month
Niceville sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 77° | 68° | 58° |
| July | 90° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 82° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Niceville
The nearest airport, Eglin AFB/Destin-Ft Walton Beach, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 230 miles away.
The best schools in and around Niceville
Schools across Niceville average an A+, better than 97% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Bluewater Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- James E Plew Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lula J. Edge Elementary SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Okaloosa Stemm CenterA+ · 97% proficient
- C. W. Ruckel Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Emerald Coast Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Collegiate High School At Northwest Florida State CollegeA · 79% proficient
- Niceville Senior High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- South Walton High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Niceville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Niceville 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 Niceville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Niceville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 62% of cities, health care access beats 65%, and it is quieter than 85%.
Common questions about living in Niceville
Is Niceville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Niceville ranks 427th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, state infrastructure, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Niceville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $452,499. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $122,515 median income, cost of living beats 89% of cities.
Is Niceville safe?
Yes, Niceville is safer than 96% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $118 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Niceville?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 43. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 62% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Niceville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Parkwood Estates, Rocky Bayou, and Marina Cove Village. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Niceville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Niceville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Niceville 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.
Niceville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Niceville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Niceville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Niceville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Niceville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Niceville 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.