Best PlacesOrchid, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orchid, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Orchid ranks 3,862nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Orchid
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.
Orchid's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orchid ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$174,590 median, better than 99% of towns
Where Orchid ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orchid
A household needs to earn about $326,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orchid home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $174,590, 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 Orchid's effective rate of 0.83%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Orchid
Orchid 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 Orchid.
Who works in Orchid, and how
Work in Orchid centers on wholesale trade and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Orchid
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Orchid, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Orchid, month by month
Orchid sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 75, with lows near 52. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 75° | 63° | 52° |
| April | 84° | 74° | 62° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 87° | 78° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Orchid
The nearest airport, Vero Beach Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orchid
Schools across Orchid average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Beachland Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gifford Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Sebastian River High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orchid school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orchid 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 Orchid against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orchid
Is Orchid a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orchid ranks 3,862nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, what local pay buys, and state infrastructure, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orchid expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,241,218. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $174,590 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Orchid safe?
Yes, Orchid is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $130 per resident a year.
Compare Orchid with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orchid. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orchid 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.
Orchid detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orchid: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orchid: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orchid: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orchid: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orchid 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.