Best PlacesPlantation, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plantation, 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.
Plantation ranks 1,115th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Plantation
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 Plantation
The parts of Plantation, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Minto Plantation & Cleary Park
Sunshine City
Lakes of Newport
Plantation Heritage Park
Landmark Plaza & Plantation Gardens
Plantation shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Plantation's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plantation ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 96% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 95% of cities
- TransitBetter than 85% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 79% of cities
- BikingBetter than 79% of cities
Where Plantation ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Plantation
A household needs to earn about $138,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plantation home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,062, 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 Plantation's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Plantation
Plantation's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Plantation.
Who works in Plantation, and how
Work in Plantation centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Plantation
Plantation has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Plantation and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Plantation, month by month
Plantation sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 78, with lows near 60. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78° | 69° | 60° |
| April | 85° | 77° | 71° |
| July | 91° | 84° | 78° |
| October | 87° | 80° | 74° |
Flying in and out of Plantation
The nearest airport, Fort Lauderdale Exec, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International, about 8 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plantation
Schools across Plantation average a B, better than 63% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Central Park Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Tropical Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Imagine Schools Plantation CampusB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nova Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Seminole Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Bair Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- South Plantation High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Plantation High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plantation school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plantation 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 Plantation against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Plantation suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 17% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Plantation
Is Plantation a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plantation ranks 1,115th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plantation expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $518,307. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $106,062 median income, cost of living beats 63% of cities.
Is Plantation safe?
Plantation is safer than 27% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Plantation?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 78 with lows near 60. That works out to about 83 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Plantation?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Minto Plantation & Cleary Park, Sunshine City, and Lakes of Newport. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Plantation with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plantation. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plantation 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.
Plantation detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plantation: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plantation: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plantation: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plantation: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plantation 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.