Best PlacesPalm Bay, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Palm Bay, 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.
Palm Bay ranks 255th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on good schools and state infrastructure. The weaker spots are disaster risk, walkability, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Palm Bay
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.
The best areas in Palm Bay
The parts of Palm Bay, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Lockmar Estates
Local pay stretches further, fewer homes sit empty, and incomes run higher.
Tillman
Biking is better, though fewer households have young kids.
Holiday Park
Fewer adults hold degrees and it is noisier.
Scores across Palm Bay run from about the 8th to the 82nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Palm Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Palm Bay lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Good schools is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. State infrastructure and low taxes follow.
The one real hole is disaster risk, near the bottom of the country. Walkability and summer heat also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Palm Bay ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 98% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- QuietBetter than 94% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of cities
Where Palm Bay ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 2% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Palm Bay
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Palm Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,722, 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 Palm Bay's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Palm Bay
Palm Bay'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 Palm Bay.
Who works in Palm Bay, and how
Work in Palm Bay centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Palm Bay
Palm Bay has more parkland per resident than 75% of cities. The coast is about 19 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Palm Bay and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Palm Bay, month by month
Palm Bay sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 74, with lows near 51. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74° | 62° | 51° |
| April | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| July | 92° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 86° | 78° | 70° |
Flying in and out of Palm Bay
The nearest airport, Melbourne Orlando International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Orlando International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Palm Bay
Schools across Palm Bay average an A−, better than 98% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Freedom 7 Elementary School Of International StudiesA+ · 88% proficient
- W. Melbourne Elementary School For ScienceA+ · 85% proficient
- Harmony Community SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Narcoossee Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Central Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Southwest Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- West Shore Junior/senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Harmony High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Heritage High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Palm Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Palm Bay 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 Palm Bay against the other 444 cities.
Who Palm Bay suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 59% of cities, health care access beats 68%, and it is quieter than 94%.
Common questions about living in Palm Bay
Is Palm Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Palm Bay ranks 255th of 445 cities. It scores highest on good schools, state infrastructure, and low taxes, and lowest on disaster risk and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Palm Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $287,403. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $75,722 median income, cost of living beats 39% of cities.
Is Palm Bay safe?
Yes, Palm Bay is safer than 93% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $150 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Palm Bay?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 74 with lows near 51. That works out to about 123 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Palm Bay?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lockmar Estates, Tillman, and Holiday Park. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Palm Bay good for families?
Schools beat 98% of cities, crime safety beats 93%, and childcare runs $839 a month.
Is Palm Bay good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 39% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 61% of cities. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Palm Bay with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Palm Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Palm Bay 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.
Palm Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Palm Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Palm Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Palm Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Palm Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Palm Bay 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.