Best PlacesOpa-Locka, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Opa-Locka, 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.
Opa-Locka ranks 2,069th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Opa-Locka
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.
Opa-Locka's strengths and weaknesses
Where Opa-Locka ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of cities
- TransitBetter than 91% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of cities
Where Opa-Locka ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Opa-Locka
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Opa-Locka home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $57,669, 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 Opa-Locka's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Opa-Locka
Opa-Locka's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Opa-Locka.
Who works in Opa-Locka, and how
Work in Opa-Locka centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Opa-Locka
Opa-Locka has more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Opa-Locka and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Opa-Locka, month by month
Opa-Locka sees roughly 100 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 | 87° | 77° | 69° |
| July | 92° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 88° | 80° | 73° |
Flying in and out of Opa-Locka
Miami International sits about 9 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 Opa-Locka
Schools across Opa-Locka average a C+, better than 44% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- North Dade Center For Modern LanguagesA · 64% proficient
- Miami Lakes K-8 CenterA− · 57% proficient
- Charles David Wyche Jr Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hialeah Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Carol City Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Country Club Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Jann Mann Educational CenterD+ · 25% proficient
- Acceleration Academies-central MiamiD+ · 24% proficient
- North Park High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Opa-Locka school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Opa-Locka 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 Opa-Locka against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Opa-Locka suits
Common questions about living in Opa-Locka
Is Opa-Locka a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Opa-Locka ranks 2,069th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and cell coverage, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay 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 Opa-Locka expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $331,497. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $57,669 median income, cost of living beats 0% of cities.
Is Opa-Locka safe?
Opa-Locka is safer than 4% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $398 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Opa-Locka?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 79 with lows near 59. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of cities.
Is Opa-Locka good for families?
Schools beat 44% of cities, crime safety beats 4%, and childcare runs $844 a month.
Compare Opa-Locka with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Opa-Locka. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Opa-Locka 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.
Opa-Locka detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Opa-Locka: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Opa-Locka: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Opa-Locka: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Opa-Locka: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Opa-Locka 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.