Best PlacesPonce, PR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ponce, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ponce is unranked among cities under the default weighting. It ranks low mainly on the weather and disaster risk. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Ponce
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 Ponce
The parts of Ponce, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Urbanizacion Los Caobos & Urbanizacion Constancia
Biking is better, more adults hold degrees, and streets are more walkable.
Villa del Carmen, Urbanizacion Starlight & Urbanizacion Perla del Sur
More homes sit empty and fewer households have young kids.
Urbanizacion Las Delicias
It is quieter and prices have run up less.
Parcelas Barahona, Urbanizacion Glenview Gdns & Comunidad Luciana
Scores close to Urbanizacion Las Delicias, except that heat risk is higher here.
Jardines del Caribe, Estancias del Golf Club & Urbanizacion Baldorioty
Urbanizacion Santa Teresita, Barriada Tamarindo & Barrio Pueblito Nuevo
Crime runs higher.
Urbanizacion Valle Verde-Ponce, Urbanizacion La Rambla & Urbanizacion Riveras de Bucana
Scores close to Urbanizacion Santa Teresita, Barriada Tamarindo & Barrio Pueblito Nuevo, except that homes cost more here.
Parcelas Nueva Vida, Urbanizacion Punta Diamante & Urbanizacion Punto Oro
Northern Ponce
Scores across Ponce run from about the 1st to the 3rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Ponce's strengths and weaknesses
Ponce lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Affordable childcare and clean air follow.
The one real hole is the weather, near the bottom of the country. Disaster risk and internet speeds also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Ponce ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Cheap childcare$357 a month, better than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of cities
Where Ponce ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 3 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$23,785 median, better than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ponce
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ponce home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $23,785; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Ponce's effective rate of 0.03%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ponce
Ponce 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 Ponce.
Who works in Ponce, and how
Work in Ponce centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ponce
Ponce has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of cities and more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ponce and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ponce, month by month
Ponce sees roughly 3 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 82, with lows near 74. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 82° | 79° | 74° |
| April | 83° | 81° | 76° |
| July | 87° | 84° | 81° |
| October | 87° | 84° | 79° |
Flying in and out of Ponce
The nearest airport, Mercedita, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Luis Munoz Marin International, about 48 miles away.
Ponce 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 Ponce against cities nationally.
Who Ponce suits
Families
Weigh schools and safety yourself on the map to find the right neighborhoods.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Ponce
Is Ponce a good place to live?
It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and clean air, and lowest on the weather and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ponce expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $112,405. Set against a $23,785 median income, cost of living beats 50% of cities.
Is Ponce safe?
Ponce is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $880 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ponce?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 82 with lows near 74. That works out to about 3 pleasant days a year, more than 0% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ponce?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Urbanizacion Los Caobos & Urbanizacion Constancia, Villa del Carmen, Urbanizacion Starlight & Urbanizacion Perla del Sur, and Urbanizacion Las Delicias. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Ponce with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ponce. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ponce 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.
Ponce detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ponce: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ponce: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ponce: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ponce: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ponce 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.