Best PlacesOrange Heights, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orange Heights, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Orange Heights ranks 44,355th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Orange Heights
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.
Orange Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Orange Heights ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 80% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 111 pleasant days a year, better than 75% of towns
Where Orange Heights ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$42,904 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orange Heights
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orange Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $42,904, 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 Orange Heights' effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Orange Heights
Orange Heights 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 Orange Heights.
Who works in Orange Heights, and how
Work in Orange Heights centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Orange Heights
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Orange Heights.
What the weather is like in Orange Heights, month by month
Orange Heights sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 70, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 70° | 55° | 42° |
| April | 84° | 70° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 85° | 72° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Orange Heights
The nearest airport, Gainesville Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orange Heights
Schools across Orange Heights average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chester Shell Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Lake Forest Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Howard W. Bishop Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Keystone Heights Junior/senior HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Eastside High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Hawthorne Middle/high SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orange Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orange Heights 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 Orange Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orange Heights
Is Orange Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orange Heights ranks 44,355th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and civic engagement, and lowest on summer heat and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orange Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,359. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $42,904 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Orange Heights safe?
Orange Heights is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
Compare Orange Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orange Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orange Heights 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.
Orange Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orange Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orange Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orange Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orange Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orange Heights 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.