Best PlacesPanacea, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Panacea, 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.
Panacea ranks 43,992nd 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 Panacea
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.
Panacea's strengths and weaknesses
Where Panacea ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 79% of towns
- QuietBetter than 78% of towns
Where Panacea ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Panacea
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Panacea home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,204, 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 Panacea's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Panacea
Panacea 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 Panacea.
Who works in Panacea, and how
Work in Panacea centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Panacea
Panacea has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns. The coast is about 7 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Panacea and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Panacea, month by month
Panacea sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 53° | 40° |
| April | 83° | 69° | 54° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 86° | 72° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Panacea
The nearest airport, Tallahassee International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 165 miles away.
The best schools in and around Panacea
Schools across Panacea average a B−, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Medart Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wakulla Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Wakulla High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Panacea school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Panacea 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 Panacea against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Panacea
Is Panacea a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Panacea ranks 43,992nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and biking, and lowest on summer heat and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Panacea expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $285,964. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $64,204 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Panacea safe?
Panacea is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $266 per resident a year.
Compare Panacea with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Panacea. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Panacea 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.
Panacea detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Panacea: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Panacea: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Panacea: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Panacea: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Panacea 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.