Best PlacesPerdido Key, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Perdido Key, 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.
Perdido Key ranks 25,996th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Perdido Key
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.
Perdido Key's strengths and weaknesses
Where Perdido Key ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
Where Perdido Key ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Perdido Key
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Perdido Key home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,635, 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 Perdido Key's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Perdido Key
Perdido Key runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Perdido Key.
Who works in Perdido Key, and how
Work in Perdido Key centers on other services and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Perdido Key
The coast is about 3 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Perdido Key, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Perdido Key, month by month
Perdido Key sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 54° | 44° |
| April | 77° | 69° | 59° |
| July | 91° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 82° | 72° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Perdido Key
The nearest airport, Pensacola International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 172 miles away.
The best schools in and around Perdido Key
Schools across Perdido Key average a B−, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hellen Caro Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jim C. Bailey Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Escambia High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Perdido Key school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Perdido Key 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 Perdido Key against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Perdido Key
Is Perdido Key a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Perdido Key ranks 25,996th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, civic engagement, and biking, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Perdido Key expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $278,300. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $76,635 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Perdido Key safe?
Yes, Perdido Key is safer than 79% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $139 per resident a year.
Compare Perdido Key with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Perdido Key. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Perdido Key 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.
Perdido Key detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Perdido Key: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Perdido Key: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Perdido Key: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Perdido Key: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Perdido Key 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.