Best PlacesOsprey, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Osprey, 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.
Osprey ranks 2,025th 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 Osprey
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.
Osprey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Osprey ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
Where Osprey ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Osprey
A household needs to earn about $181,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Osprey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $105,252, 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 Osprey's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Osprey
Osprey 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 Osprey.
Who works in Osprey, and how
Work in Osprey centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Osprey
Osprey has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Osprey and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Osprey, month by month
Osprey sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 56. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 63° | 56° |
| April | 82° | 75° | 67° |
| July | 91° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 87° | 79° | 72° |
Flying in and out of Osprey
The nearest airport, Sarasota/Bradenton International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Tampa International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Osprey
Schools across Osprey average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Phillippi Shores Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Laurel Nokomis SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Gulf Gate Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brookside Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Venice Senior High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Riverview High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Sarasota High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Osprey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Osprey 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 Osprey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Osprey
Is Osprey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Osprey ranks 2,025th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, health care access, and civic engagement, 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 Osprey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $709,737. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $105,252 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Osprey safe?
Yes, Osprey is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $95 per resident a year.
Compare Osprey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Osprey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Osprey 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.
Osprey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Osprey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Osprey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Osprey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Osprey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Osprey 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.