Best PlacesPaxton, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paxton, 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.
Paxton ranks 4,199th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Paxton
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.
Paxton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paxton ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
Where Paxton ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paxton
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paxton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $112,820, 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 Paxton's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Paxton
Paxton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Paxton.
Who works in Paxton, and how
Work in Paxton centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Paxton
The coast is about 48 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Paxton, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Paxton, month by month
Paxton sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 81° | 67° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Paxton
The nearest airport, Eglin AFB/Destin-Ft Walton Beach, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 229 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paxton
Schools across Paxton average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- James E Plew Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Mossy Head SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- C. W. Ruckel Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Emerald Coast Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Niceville Senior High SchoolA · 76% proficient
- South Walton High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paxton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paxton 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 Paxton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paxton
Is Paxton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paxton ranks 4,199th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and low taxes, and lowest on disaster risk and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paxton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $441,037. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $112,820 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Paxton safe?
Yes, Paxton is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $100 per resident a year.
Compare Paxton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paxton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paxton 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.
Paxton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paxton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paxton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paxton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paxton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paxton 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.