Best PlacesOrlando, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orlando, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Orlando ranks 28,668th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Orlando
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.
Orlando's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orlando ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 79% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 78% of towns
Where Orlando ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Orlando
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orlando home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,752, 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 Orlando's effective rate of 2.00%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Orlando
Orlando 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 Orlando.
Who works in Orlando, and how
Work in Orlando centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Orlando
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Orlando.
What the weather is like in Orlando, month by month
Orlando sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 17° |
| April | 52° | 42° | 34° |
| July | 76° | 67° | 59° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Orlando
The nearest airport, Bradford Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orlando
Schools across Orlando average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ellicottville Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- G N Chapman Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Cattaraugus-little Valley Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seneca Intermediate SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Ellicottville Middle School High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Salamanca High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orlando school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orlando 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 Orlando against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Orlando
Is Orlando a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orlando ranks 28,668th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on property taxes 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 Orlando expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $115,235. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $60,752 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Orlando safe?
Yes, Orlando is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Orlando with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orlando. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orlando 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.
Orlando detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orlando: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orlando: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orlando: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orlando: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orlando 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.