Best PlacesPalm River-Clair Mel, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Palm River-Clair Mel, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Palm River-Clair Mel ranks 32,631st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Palm River-Clair Mel
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.
Palm River-Clair Mel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Palm River-Clair Mel ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
Where Palm River-Clair Mel ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Palm River-Clair Mel
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Palm River-Clair Mel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,139, 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 River-Clair Mel'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, 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 River-Clair Mel
Palm River-Clair Mel runs younger than the country, 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 River-Clair Mel.
Who works in Palm River-Clair Mel, and how
Work in Palm River-Clair Mel centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Palm River-Clair Mel
Palm River-Clair Mel has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns. The coast is about 8 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Palm River-Clair Mel and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Palm River-Clair Mel, month by month
Palm River-Clair Mel sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 72, with lows near 55. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 72° | 62° | 55° |
| April | 85° | 75° | 67° |
| July | 92° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 87° | 78° | 71° |
Flying in and out of Palm River-Clair Mel
Tampa International sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.1 million passengers in 2025, with 135 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Palm River-Clair Mel
Schools across Palm River-Clair Mel average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Patricia Sullivan Metropolitan Ministries Partnership SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Frost Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Clair-mel Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dowdell Middle Magnet SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Giunta Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Mclane Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Bloomingdale High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Blake High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Spoto High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Palm River-Clair Mel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Palm River-Clair Mel 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 River-Clair Mel against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Palm River-Clair Mel suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Palm River-Clair Mel
Is Palm River-Clair Mel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Palm River-Clair Mel ranks 32,631st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, transit, and biking, and lowest on car insurance costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Palm River-Clair Mel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $251,847. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $69,139 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Palm River-Clair Mel safe?
Palm River-Clair Mel is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Palm River-Clair Mel?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 72 with lows near 55. That works out to about 115 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of towns.
Is Palm River-Clair Mel good for families?
Schools beat 59% of towns, crime safety beats 18%, and childcare runs $973 a month.
Compare Palm River-Clair Mel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Palm River-Clair Mel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Palm River-Clair Mel 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 River-Clair Mel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Palm River-Clair Mel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Palm River-Clair Mel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Palm River-Clair Mel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Palm River-Clair Mel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Palm River-Clair Mel 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.