Best PlacesPanama City, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Panama City metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Balon Greyjoy, CC0, via wiki
Panama City ranks 313th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Its strengths are state infrastructure and low taxes. The cost shows up in disaster risk, empty homes, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in the Panama City metro
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 Panama City
The towns and districts of the Panama City metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Lynn Haven
More households have young kids, fewer homes sit empty, and local pay stretches further.
Panama City Beach & Laguna Beach
Homes cost more and prices have run up more.
Upper Grand Lagoon & Lower Grand Lagoon
Biking is better, though tree cover is thinner.
Callaway
Schools score lower and fewer residents vote.
Chipley, Youngstown & Fountain
Commutes are longer and incomes run lower.
Downtown Panama City
Crime runs higher and fewer adults hold degrees.
Vernon
Health care is harder to reach and health outcomes score lower.
Panama City shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Panama City's strengths and weaknesses
Panama City ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. State infrastructure is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Low taxes and quiet follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: disaster risk, empty homes, and an overheated housing market all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Panama City ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of metro areas
Where Panama City ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Panama City
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Panama City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,136, 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 Panama City's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Panama City
Panama City's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Panama City.
Who works in Panama City, and how
Work in Panama City 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 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Panama City
Panama City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 22 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Panama City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Panama City growing, and who is moving in?
Panama City has grown about 12% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Crestview, FL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Panama City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Panama City, month by month
Panama City sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 54° | 46° |
| April | 77° | 69° | 60° |
| July | 89° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 82° | 73° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Panama City
The nearest airport, Northwest Florida Beaches International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 236 miles away.
The best schools in and around Panama City
Schools across Panama City average a B, better than 70% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- University Academy Sabl IncA+ · 86% proficient
- Patronis Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Tyndall AcademyA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Surfside Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Mowat Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Jinks Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- A. Crawford Mosley High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- J.r. Arnold High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Wewahitchka High SchoolB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Panama City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Panama City 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 Panama City against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Panama City suits
Retirees
The weather beats 67% of metro areas and it is quieter than 96%.
Common questions about living in Panama City
Is Panama City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Panama City ranks 313th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and quiet, and lowest on disaster risk and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Panama City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $289,479. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $74,136 median income, cost of living beats 25% of metro areas.
Is Panama City safe?
Yes, Panama City is safer than 67% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $197 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Panama City?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 46. That works out to about 111 pleasant days a year, more than 67% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Panama City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lynn Haven, Panama City Beach & Laguna Beach, and Upper Grand Lagoon & Lower Grand Lagoon. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Panama City good for families?
Schools beat 70% of metro areas, crime safety beats 67%, and childcare runs $875 a month.
Is Panama City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 25% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 41% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Panama City with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Panama City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Panama City 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.
Panama City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Panama City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Panama City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Panama City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Panama City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Panama City 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.